The Ties That Bind
by MindForgedMan
Summary: A Retelling of Naruto after the time skip. No destiny crap, Talk-no-Jutsu is nerfed, fixing lore nonsense. And I will try to build up to a proper ship instead of puking it out randomly at the end like a hack. Basically, going for "Naruto Shippuuden" as it should have been. Also fixing the trash ending, eventually. I never have & never will give "Boruto" a chance. Competent Sakura.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Sorry if this is a bit angsty. Future chapters should be _much_ less so. Hopefully the end of the chapter restores a bit of cheer. This is what I get for writing at 1am.

* * *

 **(3 months before Naruto returned to Konoha)**

After having worked a particularly grueling shift at the hospital, Sakura was anticipating taking a nice, relaxing, to help soothe the aches and pains accrued throughout the day of work.

Sakura thoroughly enjoyed her work. Despite the long hours and occasional heartbreak that came with some failures, she never regretted her choice in careers. It made her feel part of something larger than herself, crucial to something of importance, a place in which she could make a real difference in the world. And with a teacher like the world-renowned Tsunade Senju being her mentor, she really felt as if she could become something great, greater even than her master.

Sighing, she thought to herself, "That'll be the day. I need to focus on the here and now. I'm nowhere near ready to be thinking about surpassing Lady Tsunade… yet."

Glancing around her room as she stretched her arms, her eyes were (as usual) drawn to the photo on her nightstand. As she picked up her team photo from her younger days as part of Team 7, she naturally thought of the two who were no longer present in the village.

"I wonder what you two are doing right now… Naruto and Sasuke."

She recalled her desperate pleas, the first for Sasuke to take her with him, and the second for Naruto to bring him back. She had been doubly let down. Sasuke thanked her (for what, she didn't know), but he left anyway for gods know what reason. And Naruto swore on everything he was to bring Sasuke back and yet came back with nothing but injuries, which Sakura was never able to learn the extent nor origin of; those particular records had been sealed by Shizune for reasons she refused to go into. He had a number of bandages but he didn't seem to badly of when she saw him in the hospital.

"And to leave Konoha right after you got back… I still wonder what was going on with you Naruto. You'd never give up on a friend, even if it killed you. And who was a closer friend to you than Sasuke?"

As she recalled his strained expressions as he reaffirmed his promise to her, she continued "You just didn't seem like yourself when you left…"

As her thoughts turned to her other teammate, she wondered what Orochimaru - a traitor, wanton murder and psychopath extraordinaire - could offer Sasuke that he'd up and leave the village, leave her, leave their team.

As she tried to shake off this malaise, a strong knock sounded off her apartment door. To her surprise, the source was an ANBU agent whose face was hidden behind the porcelain mask of a bird of some sort.

"You've been summoned by Hokage-sama. You are to report to her office in 1-hour. Tell no one where you are going."

Though surprised, Sakura knew her master wouldn't call for her unless it was of the utmost importance.

"Of course. I'll head over shortly."

Nodding, the masked agent disappeared in a puff of smoke due to the _Body Flicker Technique_.

After taking a quick shower and switching into her typical ninja attire, Sakura decided to grab a quick bite to eat at Ichiraku's before answering Tsunade's summons. Although she had often berated Naruto for frequenting the establishment in their younger days, she had grown fond of the place in his absence; it helped ease how much she mused him after being gone for 2 years.

Eating her full and briefly chatting with Teuchi and Ayame, Sakura proceeded to the Hokage Tower and up to the Hokage's office.

As she filed into the room, Sakura noticed that several others from her graduating class in the Academy were present as well.

"Hey there Hinata! What are you and your team doing here?"

Hinata seemed a bit distant with Sakura most of the time, for reasons unknown to Sakura. Since it didn't interfere with their work, she didn't question it.

"I'm not sure, Sakura. Lady Hokage sent an ANBU for my team and simply told us to show up."

"Hm, same here." She wondered what Tsunade was up to.

Kiba was quickly losing patience, and the nearby Team Guy wasn't doing much better. As Team Asuma walked into room, Tsunade walked in behind them with Shizune.

"You're all here, good good."

Despite how she masked it, Sakura could tell there was a slight edge to the Hokage's voice. The upcoming conversation couldn't be pleasant.

Coughing into her fist to get everyone focused, Tsunade spoke, "I'm sure you are all wondering why I called you here today. It's not a pleasant conversation, I'm sorry to say. But before that, lemme just ensure our privacy."

Maneuvering her fingers into the standard chakra concentration hand sign, Tsunade activated the privacy seals located around the room. These seals would suppress any outbound sound to foil eavesdroppers and would distort any visual jutsu being used to see into the Hokage's office.

"Lady Tsunade, are these precautions necessary?"

"Some of what we will discuss is crucial in maintaining the peace and so the seals are just a precaution. With that said, I think it's time I cut to the chase. I've received and decoded a message from my fellow Sannin, Jiraiya."

The various chunin and single jonin in the office look surprised at her statement, while several others smiled at the implication.

Sakura spoke quickly. "Does that mean Naruto will be returning soon?!"

Nodding, Tsunade continued, "Yes. He and Jiraiya should be returning in about 3 months, according to the missive. But Naruto's return is the problem I called you all here for."

Sakura was shocked. "How could Naruto be a problem… his usual antics aside. A problem big enough to require all this…?" she thought to herself.

"Tsunade-sama, what do you mean? How could Naruto-kun be a problem" Hinata asked nervously.

Looking as if she'd rather be having any conversation besides this, Tsunade said "You all need to hear why Naruto had to leave for 2 years."

Everyone looked confused, Sakura especially.

"What do you mean, sensei? Naruto was leaving to train with Jiraiya-sama so he could bring Sasuke back right?"

"That was certainly part of the reason but it's more complicated than that, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing, Tsunade brought out a green scroll from her pocket and placed it on her desk.

Before anyone could ask what the scroll was for, Tsunade asked the group a question.

"Are any of you aware of what a Jinchūriki is?"

Glancing around the room, Sakura saw mostly looks of confusion. Neji and Shikamaru seemed to recognize the term. Sakura herself could only recall seeing the term mentioned in passing in old war records. She knew the characters for the term indicated a it had something to do with a power of human sacrifice. However, the meaning of it wasn't known to her.

"I can see most of you are unaware. In short, a Jinchūriki is a human weapon of sorts. A human with the power of a Tailed Beast at their call, having been sealed within them with a powerful Fuinjutsu."

Kiba scratched his head in confusion, and responded "...Tailed Beast?"

Neji spoke up. "Nine beasts bearing the strongest chakra, they're practically forces of nature. Like Kyuubi, the Nine-Tails." He looked at Tsunade pointedly, who nodded in response.

Speaking nervously, Sakura asked "OK, and what's important about these Jinchūriki, and why are they a problem with Naruto? Has he been fighting them?" Sakura didn't like the sound of this human weapon and human sacrifice business. It sounded far too ominous.

Tsunade exhaled deeply. "Honestly, I'm surprised he even agreed to allow me to tell you all this. The issue is that Naruto _is_ a Jinchūriki. Within him is sealed the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."

"WHAT?!" shouted Sakura. Ino and several others gasped similarly in response. Rock Lee's face looked pale, as did Hinata's.

Tsunade raised her hands to get everyone's attention again.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. The Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto the day he was born. He was used to contain the demon when it attacked Konoha 16 years ago."

Sakura was close to hyperventilating. How could Naruto of all people have to bear something like that. It was horrifying. She wondered why he never told her.

"Would I have even associated with him if he told me?" she asked herself. She didn't know the answer and that upset her.

"Tsunade-sama… is this why the village hated Naruto so much? They all knew about him, didn't they?" Sakura could remember a few times she overheard adults around the village spit words like "demon" at a young Naruto.

"Yes. There were too many witnesses to the sealing, it couldn't be covered up. Although it appears Neji already knew somehow, I'm sorry you all had to find out this way. I'm sure Naruto wanted to tell you himself, but the circumstances just didn't allow it. Jiraiya needed to get him out of Konoha."

"What do you mean, sensei?"

Tapping the scroll on her desk, Tsunade said "The answers are here in this scroll. As you all know, important missions must be properly recorded, analyzed and stored away for future reference. Whether by a genjutsu or by the Yamanaka clan's telepathic abilities, we make a detailed copy of the memories related to the mission and seal them into these recording scrolls. Although a civilian mind wouldn't retain as detailed a memory, shinobi have highly detailed visual and auditory memories due to improving their spiritual energy, which makes up half one's chakra along with the body's physical energy."

Tapping the green scroll again, she continued, "This scroll contains Naruto's memories of that last mission several of you went on. Although he was unconscious, we needed to have Inoichi obtain this recording to figure what the hell happened. The contents were… disturbing."

Everyone noticed Tsunade's prominent frown, so they were afraid to hurry up the explanation.

"Rather than tell you, it'd be better if you just saw for yourselves. We can enter the memory and see the events of that day. But I'm warning you: This will change your perception of those you see in the memory, including Naruto. Naruto agreed to let me show you this before he left 2 years ago, but having viewed it several times myself, I can attest that it's hard to watch."

Several of the younger generation looked at each other nervously. They couldn't imagine what would be worse than what they'd already been told.

Rock Lee was the first to speak up. "Let us see what the Hokage has. Naruto was a friend to many of us. He has already shared his darkest secret with us, the least we can do is honor that trust."

Everyone nodded, though some like Ino did so with more trepidation.

Tsunade opened the scroll on her desk. Indicating the jutsu formula surrounding the character in the center of the scroll, she said "Everyone place a hand on this jutsu formula. It will pull your minds into the memory of the fight in question. Naruto's fight with Sasuke."

Everyone was thrown for a loop. They knew the Sound Four (or rather, Five) had delayed the recovery team, but they didn't know Naruto had fought Sasuke himself.

Ino spoke angrily, "That idiot fought with Sasuke instead of bringing him back? I didn't think even he was that stupid."

Tsunade slammed her right fist upon her desk, nearly cracking it in half; Ino went silent at the display of strength.

"Maybe instead of running your mouth you should watch this memory and see what happened." Despite her quieter voice, Tsunade's tone indicated how pissed she was at what Ino said.

Gulping, Ino and the rest of their group placed a hand on the formula.

Tsunade activated the seal to pull them into the memory of that day. The day the two friends fought at the Valley of the End…

* * *

As the group fell into the darkness of the memory, the found themselves landing on the waters of a large lake surrounding by huge cliff faces on all sides.

Tsunade got their attention by clapping. "I've selected this moment as the best place to start. They'd been fighting for maybe 10 minutes, but this will be illuminating."

She pointed over at two figures racing at each other over the surface of the lake at high speeds, their respective jutsu in hand.

Sakura had to catch her breath. It had been 2 years since she had seen them. She knew they were kids no longer, and that they must look different now. All the same, it was them. And yet again, charging at each other with those same techniques she saw them use on the hospital roof 2 years prior.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

The raven-haired boy thrust his lightning covered hand forward, with the blond doing likewise with his spiraling sphere of chakra.

As the boys tried to gain the upper hand in the collision of A-ranked jutsu, the techniques exploded sending them flying.

"Naruto, Sasuke!" Sakura shouted.

"Forehead, it's just a memory," Ino said flatly.

"Uh, yea, right. Sorry…" she said to the group in embarrassment, palming her face.

They watched as Sasuke stood atop the water first and walked over to the floating body of Naruto. Sasuke picked up the blonde by the throat as the black marks of the cursed seal covered his body.

"Don't you see loser, you were never a match for me. The Uchiha were the strongest clan of the Leaf, you no name clown."

Naruto struggled against the boy's grip, and managed to gasp out "Why?! You… were my best friend..."

Laughing maniacally, Sasuke said "For power. I already told you on our first day as Team 7. I aim to kill my brother. Before that goal, all else is just a distraction."

Tsunade broke the group out of the trance the scene had them under, saying bitterly "Here's where it begins."

Smiling as he activated Chidori again, he said softly "And you Naruto, you are just in the way."

Much to everyone's shock, Sasuke directed the attack towards Naruto's heart. There was no mistaking it, Sasuke was aiming to murder Naruto, a fact Naruto knew as well.

The group could hear Naruto's internal thoughts at the sight. "He's… he's really trying to kill me!"

Somehow Naruto managed to deflect the Chidori from his heart. It still went straight through his chest on the other side, surely bursting a lung and numerous bones.

Sakura began to cry. How could Sasuke do something like that. To try and kill Naruto, his best friend. Much less smile about it.

"You may have deflected my attack, but you won't be using anymore jutsu Naruto. This is the end for you."

Suddenly, a familiar red chakra began to spill out of Naruto as a bright red aura. He grabbed Sasuke's wrist in a death grip, forcing the Uchiha to pull back before the bone was broken.

What was most frightening weren't the fangs or frayed hair, it was the malice the chakra gave off, even in Naruto's memory of it. Worse, behind Naruto the chakra showed a phantom of the fox demon itself. Kiba looked about willing to wet his pants at the sight.

Naruto's chest wound began to heal at a rapid rate, causing Sasuke to shout "Just what the hell are you, some kind of demon?"

Naruto, now with red slitted eyes, simply shouted "I was your friend. So that's why I refuse to let a bastard like Orochimaru take you, Sasuke!"

Throwing a punch at Sasuke from 20 feet away, a powerful shockwave projected from the fist, slamming into Sasuke, sending him flying backward across the water before he regained his footing.

Before the group could watch anymore of the heartbreaking scene, Tsunade interrupted again and said "The next important bit is up ahead, so we'll skip ahead." Using the hand sign from before, the scene sped ahead.

They were dropped into another section of the fight. Despite Naruto's superior speed while using the Fox's chakra, it was clear Sasuke had somehow gained the upper hand and was intercepting and dispelling all of Naruto's Shadow Clones.

After Naruto used a brutal Clone combo to slam the 2 into a cliff face, Sasuke retaliated with a powerful Fire Release technique.

"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!"

The fire incinerated the chain of clones, leaving only a startled original in front of Sasuke on the cliff.

"S-sasu...ke" he muttered.

"Don't you see Naruto! It's useless!"

The Uchiha threw Naruto off the cliff towards the ground below. Shockingly however, the boy jumped after Naruto and put him into a piledriver, slamming Naruto headfirst into the stone below.

Hinata was now the one shouting for Naruto to get up, tears streaming down her face all the while. Sakura wasn't sure how much more she could watch.

As Naruto's now limp body fell into the lake and floated away, the group saw a terrifying sight.

A giant cage suddenly sprang into existence near Naruto's body. Behind the cage was a massive figure, a silhouette framed in the same red chakra they saw earlier.

The demonic presence began to laugh in its deep, commanding voice. "You really are weak, aren't you kid? Even with my power, you let that Uchiha scum best you. Perhaps you need a bit more to kill him?"

Naruto's voice echoed around them, "I don't need your help you bastard. I'm not trying to kill him, I just need to beat him up so I can bring him home like I promised!" Their surroundings took on the look of a massive boiler room of sorts with the huge cage taking of one side of the large room. There were pipes leading away from the massive cage, and in the middle of the room was Naruto kneeling on one knee in fatigue.

"And why would you want to do such a thing? Are you such a fool that you don't realize this is a betrayal?" the beast spat at him.

"It's just the Curse Mark. Sasuke would never do this otherwise!"

"Naruto I've observed the whole fight. He is not currently tapping into that mark's power."

Clearly frustrated, Naruto retorted "Well then then mark messed him up from before! If I can just get him back to-"

"You damned fool! That Uchiha wasn't kidnapped Naruto, he left of his own free will. He even tried to kill you. He has been corrupted all right, but not by that snake's mark. His desire for revenge above all else led him to this; don't make excuses for him!"

"You're wrong, you don't know anything about him!" he declared.

"Oh spare me boy. I've seen everything you've seen throughout your life. Everything. So I can say without a doubt that this is exactly how he'd act at the promise of the power to kill his brother."

Naruto was rendered silent at that declaration, with doubt visibly creeping onto his face.

"Y-you're wrong…"

"Am I Naruto? Are you going to lie and say that this is the first betrayal you've experienced? The first rejection? Amusing." The large fox was grinning evilly at the young Naruto.

"Come now Naruto, even you shouldn't be too surprised by this. They all let you down in the end. Can you name a single person in your life who hasn't majorly let you down, betrayed you, hurt you?"

Naruto was stunned at the beast's observation. Sakura wanted to speak up, to tell Naruto to give that fox a piece of his mind. That his team had never betrayed him before.

"K-kakashi-sensei never…"

"Oh Naruto Naruto Naruto, he has let you down, you just didn't know it. Haven't you always wanted to know who your parents were, why you were left alone in the world? To find anything that would make you feel you had a belonged somewhere?"

Naruto stared up at the fox with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "What?" he said in shock.

"Goodness me, did Kakashi not mention that he knew your parents personally? His jonin-sensei was your old man, after all. And I know for a fact that he was aware your mother was pregnant with you. Hell, the 3rd Hokage knew as well, he secured the venue your mother gave birth at. What was it he told you again? That you had no need to know who your parents were? That stung, I'm sure."

Naruto was breathing harder now, angered at what he was hearing. "Iruka-sensei was always there for m-"

"Sure Naruto, after he proved he saw you as no different than the rest of the village. And when did he seek you out, hm? After you got into trouble and nearly lost the Leaf access to my power. He was obligated as a Leaf-nin to bring you back. Getting close to you simply allowed Konoha to keep you in the village."

Naruto began to cry in earnest now, covering his ears to try and block out the Kyuubi's words.

"Let's see, who else. Mizuki? You already saw his true feelings. Maybe your Academy friends? Pfft, what have they done for you besides give you grief and name call you? Sasuke? HAH, I believe the Uchiha is giving you a masterclass in how to let people down. You thought if anyone would understand you it would be him. I guess that shared understanding didn't mean much to him."

At this point Naruto shouted "Shut-up! I don't want to hear it you bastard!"

Ignoring him, the Fox continued "Who else is there? Sakura? She's bound to give you up to get to the Uchiha at some point. Isn't that why you're fighting him so hard, Naruto? Or maybe Jiraiya? Unreliable at best. He even let his own teacher down, leading to his death. You barely register on his radar; it's only a matter of time just like the others. Perhaps Tsunade? Yes, she might be the one you can count on…"

Naruto almost looked hopeful at the lifeline thrown to him, only for it to be snatched away.

"Of course, she gave you _that_ necklace, so I doubt she has too much faith in you."

Naruto looked down at the First Hokage's necklace he won from Tsunade after mastering Rasengan in a week.

Smiling devilishly, the demon pushed on "Didn't she tell you? The function of that necklace is to help keep me sealed away. If too much of my power escapes, there's a shinobi in the Leaf who can use that necklace as an added seal against me. So while she spoke pretty words about having such faith in you, that didn't extend to your ability to keep me contained. She assumed you were too weak in the end."

Naruto went silent again, not noticing the red chakra now oozing out of the cage towards him.

"But come now Naruto, surely you know the one, the _only_ one, who hasn't let you down once in your life."

Naruto looked into the beast's eyes. "It's me, Naruto. I've always been there for you. I've seen every triumph, I've seen the many failures. The love, the loss, the heartache. The trials and the tribulations. Whenever you were hurt, I healed you. Whenever you required more power, I protected you. Whenever the villagers would gang up to try and hurt you, my presence frightened them away."

Chuckling darkly as it's crimson chakra began to pool around Naruto, the beast said in an almost seductive tone, "It's ironic, isn't it Naruto? For all their claims of you and I being the demons, they were the real monsters all along. You wanted to be loved more than anything in the world, but they spat on you But not I, Naruto. I'm always here, even when the world tells you you don't deserve love. And I'm still here, I can turn this fight around for you…"

The beast stuck a claw between the bars of the cage. "Commune with me, Naruto. Release a tail of my power, not those mere shrouds like before. Strike the Uchiha down; surely this betrayal just cuts too deep."

The group had been silent for some time. Even Tsunade had tears running down her cheek, despite having seen the events before.

The young Naruto stood up and grabbed onto the The Fox's claw, releasing a blinding flash of light.

The group were brought outside the seal again to the sight of Naruto being enveloped by red chakra again, this time far more dense. Once it covered him completely, the boy screamed briefly before falling onto all fours. The chakra had taken the shape of a fox outline around Naruto, complete with a single tail.

As the boy began roaring and prepared to engage Sasuke again, Tsunade called out "I think we've seen enough of this fight, we should move on."

Performing the hand sign again, the recorded memories fast forwarded again.

Shikamaru asked "Why'd you stop it? What happened afterward?!"

Tsunade wiped the tears from her eyes. "I just couldn't bear to see it again, it was too much. Afterward Sasuke would tap into the Curse Mark further so he could match Naruto. The two went for broke, with Sasuke going for the kill again. Naruto couldn't do it though. Despite the Kyuubi's influence, he refuse to go for a fatal blow as the beast's chakra would have poisoned Sasuke."

Hinata gathered herself and asked "So how does this relate to Naruto leaving the village?"

"That will become apparent with the last recorded memory."

As the next scene came into focus, they realized they were at the Konoha hospital, the same one Sakura and Ino now worked at.

Jiraiya was walking toward a bandaged, solemn Naruto as he lay in his hospital bed in an otherwise empty room.

"Naruto. I think you've been silent long enough. Bottling up how you feel won't help things, it will only weaken your resolve."

Naruto looked at the white-haired man with a defeated expression, which turned to anger.

"And what do you want me to say, geezer? That I feel betrayed, humiliated, is that it?"

Jiraiya remained silent to let the boy get it all off his chest.

Grasping at the bed's blanket, he continued bitterly. "If there's one thing I learned out there, it's that I don't have a damn thing in my life going for me. I always thought, yeah sure, maybe I was dealt a shitty hand but I could turn it around if I just worked my ass off to change things, if I didn't give up there had to be a better life waiting for me out there. I tried to give more than I thought I could, but it always blew up in my face anyway."

At this point, he began to fight back tears. "I can't trust anyone. I tried, I really did. Hell, I thought I was turning a corner, making progress. But I was ignoring the past, because I should have known it couldn't last. Of all people, I thought as long as Sasuke and I were friends I could make it. He didn't have it much better than I did, yet he knew exactly what he wanted to do in life. I wanted to be just like him."

"Naruto, the Uchiha boy was clearly hiding quite a lot of hatred in his heart. That run-in with his brother just brought to surface what was always there." Jiraiya said somberly.

"You don't get it. In Team 7's first mission outside the Leaf, he was willing to trade his life to save me. He threw himself in front of an attack that looked fatal, knowing he'd probably die in the process."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at news. Sakura and the others members were even more surprised since they knew how distant Sasuke could be and how poorly he had gotten along with Naruto.

"So you see old man, all I can think now is that he decided I just wasn't worth it. And he's not the first. I know Kakashi-sensei knows who my parents are, yet he never thought to share that information with me."

Jiraiya asked in shock, "How did you know that? Who told you this, Naruto?"

Ignoring him, Naruto continued as he gestured at his necklace. "And then there's this. I thought Tsunade gave it to me as a sign of faith that I could fulfill my dream, that I could do anything I set my mind to. But then I find out this necklace is used to restrict a Tailed Beast's chakra. I may be an idiot, but even I can put 2 and 2 together."

Jiraiya nearly yelled, "Naruto, have you been speaking with the Kyuubi?!"

"But most of all, I just feel so empty. I gave everything I had to prove to Gaara that strength comes from wanting to protect those close to you. And then I suddenly realized, I don't have that. I was deluding myself to think otherwise. I just don't think I can stay here any longer."

"Naruto!"

The boy looked up at the Sannin with his puffy, red eyes. "You're not alone in this world, don't listen to that damn Fox. The Nine-Tails is an incarnation of hatred. It seeks to unravel you so that the seal binding it will be removed. Even if there's no one else, I will be here for you. Just like I was for your father."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "So you knew who my parents were too?"

Nodding his head, the Toad Sage said "I'll tell you who they were, but I think we should leave the village first. It will be good for you."

Naruto seemed surprised at the man's words. "After all, you still plan to go after Sasuke, right?"

"I swore to Sakura I'd bring him back no matter what. Even though it hurts, I don't plan to break that promise anytime soon," he said firmly.

"Well in that case you knucklehead, you better get ready for a few years of grueling training. I'll be teaching you almost everything I know, and then some. And I think getting out and seeing the world can help you find something to believe in again, something to fight for. It's a bit personal, but I went through a similar scenario with Orochimaru decades back. Not to toot my own horn (*toot*), but I eventually I became a well-known author. It became a passion of mine!"

Those viewing smiled as Naruto's gloom was replaced with his snickering. "So you ended up writing those raunchy trash novels after that snake bastard left? Gods I hope I don't lose my mind and decency like you, Pervy Sage."

Jiraiya jumped back in shock and then glared at Naruto. "Raunchy trash novels?! I'll have you know my 'Icha Icha' series is highly regarded all over the continent. You're just too young to understand the intricacies of the plot, the expertise of the of the writing, the subtly of the romance… After you've been around the block a few times, _maybe_ I will consider your opinion worth acknowledging."

Laughing genuinely, Naruto said "Pervy Sage, you're too easy to get worked up."

Sighing, Jiraiya spoke in a more serious tone. "They weren't my first attempt at writing." Pulling a worn out book out from his pocket, he showed Naruto a book titled 'Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. "After we've had a talk about your parents, I'll let you read this. I'm hoping it will give you the direction you're looking for in life."

"What's that?"

"Well, I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just say it was the first book I ever wrote. It did abysmal, hardly anyone bought it. But if I'm being honest, it's the book I'm most proud of," he said with quiet smile at odds with his usual bombastic personality.

"When can we leave, shisho?"

"'Shisho', you say? Who knew you could be respectful. As soon as you're fit to leave the hospital, we'll pack up and leave. We have 3 years before Orochimaru can take over Sasuke's body. You'll have my whole focus for more than 2 of those years. We'll travel the world, see all kinds of cultures. You can find yourself and grow stronger, much stronger. I think you need this more than anything. It'll be better than sitting in bed bitching and moaning about how unfair life is, anyway."

Nodding his head, Naruto declared, "I'll be ready by tomorrow, Jiraiya-sensei!"

At this point, Tsunade ending the memory recording and brought the group back to reality.

"As you saw, he needed some time away from the village to find himself, to discover what he wanted to do with his life. If he decides to return with Jiraiya, I honestly don't know if he's even interested in becoming Hokage anymore. He wanted that position to get people to respect him, but now he's not sure he wants anything to do with the people of Konoha," she responded solemnly.

Sakura was blown away. Never would she have thought Naruto would have such crisis. For as long as she could remember, the blonde had been loudly proclaiming his desire to become the Hokage. And after hearing how he defeated Gaara, she was starting to believe he could do it.

"But that's not the only reason he left…" Tsunade said.

"As you saw, even a small fraction of the Kyuubi's power is enormous. Jiraiya saw this as the perfect opportunity to train Naruto to face a group which seeks to obtain the Tailed Beasts: Akatsuki."

Neji looked on in concern. "What would anyone wish to obtain all of them for?"

Shaking her head, Tsunade responded "Not a clue. Nothing good I'm sure. As this group is filled with S-rank missing-nin, they're extremely dangerous. Not long before Sasuke defected in fact, 2 Akatsuki members snuck into the village trying to capture Naruto. With his confidence beat up and in danger while alone, Jiraiya figured seeing the world for himself might let him find something to hold onto again. "

Shizune cleared her throat. "Milady, don't you think you should wrap this up? It's getting quite late," she said, gesturing at the dying light of the sunset.

"Indeed. Now look, I know this is a lot to take in. But try to really consider what of you saw. Naruto thought you deserved to know, but honestly I could tell he was terrified at what you'd think once you saw. I'm just asking that you don't overreact to it. If he returns, I'm sure you hope as much as I do that our lovable idiot is feeling like himself again. Thanks to Jiraiya, there's a good chance he'll be back to normal by the time he returns."

* * *

As Sakura got into bed that night, she couldn't get the images she saw out her mind. Sasuke attempting to kill Naruto repeatedly, Naruto being broken down busy the Kyuubi's words, him being a Jinchūriki… it made her feel sick to her stomach at how awful it was for him.

She desperately hoped Naruto would return with Jiraiya in 3 months, to assure him she was still his friend, that she wouldn't hurt him like that Fox Demon predicted.

"Please Naruto, come back to us, back to me…" she murmured.

* * *

 **(A/N):**

Let me know what you think in the reviews. I probably need to work on some things (I might have gone a bit overboard with the Nine-Tails stuff). Give me some feedback, thanks~ Oh and this fic is NaruSaku, no question. Not to get into it here, but the canon pairings were moronic and poorly written; the latter is basically indisputable as far as I'm concerned.

So the other chapters will be a bit different from this, if I continue. If anyone wants to see more of this, the next chapter will start when Naruto (freshly trained by Jiraiya) returns to Konoha 2.5 years after he left. The point of this prologue chapter was to introduce some of the differences I wanted to make from the canon events. It bugged me that Kurama only once in the story used Naruto's history as a weapon against him in order to make him draw on the Kyuubi's chakra. Kurama has seen everything Naruto has in his life, it's in the prime position to draw on his hopes, fears and failures to get him to weaken the seal by breaking down his confidence in himself. Also, in this fic Neji knew Naruto was Kurama's Jinchuriki because he (as in canon) saw an image of the Nine-Tails with his Byakugan during their match in the Chunin Exams.

And if you were annoyed by the summary I gave for the fanfiction, well, chill. I just had a lot of issues with the 'Naruto' manga (don't get me started on the anime). There was just a lot of bad writing, from intentionally deceptive parallels to theme inconsistencies to convenient killings so Naruto didn't have to actually deliver on his proclamations. It just pissed me off, especially the shitty ending. I hate to call him a hack - because he created a genuinely interesting world - but Kishimoto just bungled so many of the positives the 'Naruto' series had and it really disappointed me. From the nonsense involving the Otsutsuki Clan, to the inflation of the story of the Sage of the Six Paths (for no reason) to laziness in resolving the Land of Water's Kekkai Genkai bigotry simply by making Mei the Mizukage, to everything coming down to destiny despite Naruto's argument with Neji, etc. Part 1 of Naruto was actually quite good, Part 2 tanked most of those positives, made lots of negatives and ended up spoiling most of its own positives due to inconsistencies with Part 1 of 'Naruto'. The purpose of this fic is pretty hard to accomplish, but I want to retell the story of Part 2 of Naruto in a way that makes sense based on the themes of Part 1. Hopefully I can do this; we'll see I suppose.

Anyway, sorry for all the bitching and ranting down here, I'm not trying to suggest I'm better than Kishimoto at writing or some shit. Since I'm not sure how well (if at all) this story will be received or if it will continue, I figured I'd go ahead and say my peace while I had your attention. He just made a lot of avoidable mistakes that he easily avoided in Part 1 and it annoys the hell out of me. If you did enjoy this (it will get better, promise), please Favorite, Follow and (especially) **REVIEW** even if you are only a guest reader.

Also, read TheLemonSage's Naruto Fanfic "Eroninja". Someone reuploaded the series here on FF, but the TLS updates it over on FicWad. It's really good and probably my favorite Naruto fanfic. It has a bazillion lemons and is a harem fic though, hehe.

-MindForged


	2. Chapter 2: Bell Test v2

**(A/N):** Wow, thanks for the positive and constructive responses to chapter 1! I responded to most of them via PMs, but I'll wrap up a few here more publicly for those interested.

 **Wondering Knight:** I know what Kishimoto said about the ships having always been planned this way. But if so, that just makes him bad writer in some respects. If you intentionally set up **multiple** parallels in your story between your characters (Their personalities, their love interests, between their mother and their love interest, etc.) and then turn around and say they were basically jokes, you are just being a dick to your readers. I mean, the fact that they had to make up previously completely unmentioned flashback scenes between Naruto & Hinata in "The Last" demonstrates even they knew the shipping was ridiculous. Hinata appeared in at most a few dozen panels in the entirety of the manga (probably no more than 45 panels), yet we're supposed to think this character (who is literally **only** around to be potential waifu material for Naruto) is secretly the person Naruto was always in love with and not the one he kept saying he was in love with and risking his life for? How many times did Naruto even **mention** Hinata, like 10 times total? And that he only said he loved Sakura because he was competing with Sasuke? Man (and this is directed at Kishimoto, not you), that's just absurd.

 **PursuitOfDreams:** Glad you enjoyed it. And yea, I'm trying to avoid the awful spelling and grammar issues that plague many fanfics. I'm bound to screw up of course, but hopefully not too badly. And no, this won't be an OP edgelord fic. As you will see in this chapter, Naruto _really_ doesn't want people to walk on eggshells around him because of the past.

 **longbowchris50:** Yep. Boruto is just an abomination of a character and as an idea. Naruto chooses to use his clones to hang out with his family instead of using the clones to do his Hokage work? Did we really need Naruto to become any scummier than Kishimoto made him? Again, this is just one of those needlessly stupid things Kishimoto did because… what, no reason? Nope, it was stupid, plain and simple. It just let Kishi end the series with the Hokage monument getting graffitied again. I guarantee that's the only reason Boruto exists as he does. It's why I completely refused to even try to watch the Boruto anime or read its manga.

 **DeadlyRecon:** I went back and fixed some errors and slightly rewrote bits of dialogue for chapter 1. Thanks for pointing that out!

 **methyl:** Yep, the power balance was completely stupid and was constantly justified in interviews with Kishimoto as "I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't know how to write her as a strong character. Sakura will be a heroine in the future, I promise guys." Of course, this barely happened at all, and she was almost instantly outclassed a dozen or 2 chapters after she "caught up". Can he just not write strong female characters who stay relevant? I mean, Sakura had like 2 or 3 "I won't fall behind" scenes and they all became irrelevant in a handful of chapters every time they happened, christ. That's something I aim to fix here. Sakura will be competent & relevant in this fanfic, not a crutch who only ever does support stuff.

/long ass author's note

* * *

 **(The day of Naruto's arrival, 3 months after his Jinchūriki reveal)**

Naruto and Jiraiya were walking down a familiar path through a large forest.

'I can't believe it's been 2 and a half years', Naruto mused to himself. 'I wonder how everything and everyone has changed?'

Jiraiya caught sight of Naruto's nostalgic expression and smirked, recognizing it as the same sort of expression he himself had whenever he would return to Konoha after a long absence.

"Hey kid, get your head out of the clouds. A hero should look confident and driven when he returns home, not like a Nara with a spare moment."

Smirking at his master's love of looking cool, Naruto responded, "Then why do you always look a goof, shisho? You must not have this 'hero' thing down yet youself."

"I see I haven't managed to drill respect for your elders into your head these past couple of years…"

"Maybe because I had to learn to act like the mature one all by myself, Jiraiya-sensei."

As they continued to banter back and forth like this, they noticed the huge entrance to Konoha began to peak over the horizon of the slightly inclined road they were walking along.

"Sensei."

"I see it. You ready, my young pupil?"

"Born ready! I just can't wait, race you there old man!"

The two took off for Konoha with the speed befitting their profession. In a flash, the master and student sped passed the 2 Chunin handling the documentation of entrants to the village.

The two Chunin on duty lept into action at the sudden intrusion, each summoning their large, bladed weapons to stop the apparent intruders.

The blurs turned around and slid to a stop, allowing the Chunin to get a clear look at them.

"Woah there, Kotetsu, Izumo! It's not in your best interests to raise arms against the gallant Jiraiya! Many have tried and all have fallen!"

The 2 chunin were surprised at the identity of the intruder.

Izumo was the first to speak, saying, "But if that's you Jiraiya-sama, then the other is..." He looked at the tall, blonde ninja.

"Naruto… I can't believe it's you!"

The 2 chunin could tell the boy's journey had done wonders for him. Gone was the scrawny and short genin of 2½ years prior. The shinobi before them was the very definition of "matured".

No longer dressed in his orange jumpsuit, he wore a long-sleeved, black uniform jacket which sported a large, red Uzumaki Clan symbol on its back, while his pants retained the orange favored in his younger days. The cloth of his forehead protector had been replaced black, rubbery band. On his left arm he wore a red armband bearing the kanji for oil, "油, _abura_ ", symbolizing his fellowship with Mount Myoboku, the home of the Toad summons.*

"Hey guys, long time no see," Naruto said while sporting his trademark toothy grin.

The 2 chunin returned the smile, happy to see him in high spirits.

Kotetsu joined in, saying "I can't believe how much you've grown, Naruto. You're as tall as we are now!"

"Hah, I've grown in more ways than one guys! I'm super strong now, just ask this old fart!" Naruto gestured to where Jiraiya had been standing, only to find empty space.

Glancing around, Naruto spotted Jiraiya attempting to sneak off in the direction that looked suspiciously like where the village onsen was located.

Sighing at his teacher's predictability, Naruto appeared at Jiraiya's side in an instant and decked him while he descended into his Pervert Mode.

"You have no shame, sensei. Oh well, I guess I'll leave dealing with you to the Hokage, hehe."

Hefting the now conked out toad sage over his shoulder, he bade the 2 shocked Chunin a hasty farewell and sped off towards the Hokage Tower at speeds that made him look like a yellow blur.

* * *

Sakura had entered the Hokage Tower and few minutes ago in order to deliver some important medical documents to Tsunade.

Unsurprisingly, much of the Hokage's job involved paperwork regarding various village operations and policies. The hospital was requesting the Hokage to put in an order for more blood to stock for transfusions, as their current stock was nearing levels that would be unacceptably low if an emergency were to occur.

After Tsunade had signed the relevant paperwork and had it sent off to the village economic advisors, Sakura had begin to chat with her teacher and fellow student, Shizune.

"Uhg, this can't be good news," Tsunade abruptly said.

"Huh?" Sakura responded as she looked at her master with a questioning look.

"According to the newspaper, it seems I've won the prize for a raffle I entered last week. This is a bad omen, I'm sure of it." Tsunade palmed her face in anticipation of the terror the gods had in store for her that day.

Sakura giggled at Tsunade's cynicism. "Sensei, don't be so superstitious. Everyone gets lucky sometimes, even you. I'm sure nothing bad is going to happ-"

Suddenly, the door to the Hokage's office was kicked open and the unconscious body of Tsunade's fellow Sannin, Jiraiya, was thrown in unceremoniously.

Everyone was rendered speechless at the unexpected delivery, when a familiar, yet matured voice spoke into the silence.

"Hey everybody! Miss me much?"

In walked a familiar looking blonde bearing a broad smile with his hands planted on his hips.

You could hear a pin drop as not a single person spoke, having realized who it was they were looking at. Jiraiya stirred everyone from their stupor when he snored loudly in his unconscious state.

Sakura reacted first, shouting "Naruto!"

Sakura ran forward and jumped into his arms, giving him a bone-crushing hug to convey what she wished to tell him, a hug Naruto returned.

"Oof. Jeez Sakura-chan, you'd think you hadn't seen me in years. Not that I mind the hug, but this is how rumors get started, ya know."

Lightly punching him in the shoulder to distract from her blush, Sakura said amusedly "I see you haven't changed one bit. You're as goofy as ever."

Naruto had a shocked look on his face. "Aw come on Sakura-chan, I'm super mature now. Don't I look more grown up?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Hm, a bit I suppose." Naruto's shoulders dropped a bit in defeat. "Say, Naruto, do I look more mature as well?" she asked as she touched one of her cheeks in a manner Naruto found to be cute.

Naruto's cheeks were tinged a slight punk as he responded "Y-yea. You look great, really grown up and… nice."

Naruto couldn't help but eye Sakura up and down quickly. She did look great, with her pink hair possessing the nice sheen he always liked. She had also grown pretty tall (only slightly shorter than him), with a toned body that told him she had been training hard.

And speaking of her body, Naruto noticed that her bust had filled out nicely. "She looks like a C-cup… not so flat-chested anymore," Naruto thought with a gulp. He realized she had her assets pressed up against him a minute ago.

Sakura blushed a deep red at his obvious appreciation of her body.

Before the 2 could go any further, their attention was called by a cough by the buxom blonde Hokage.

"Now that I've got the attention of you two lovebirds… JIRAIYA, WAKE THE HELL UP OR I'LL GIVE YOU A REASON TO BE UNCONSCIOUS!" Tsunade yelled.

Jiraiya sprung into consciousness like clockwork, having heard the demon that haunted his dreams so close by.

"What the devil is going o-" Jiraiya saw Tsunade and had that look in his eye that Naruto recognized from when Jiraiya was running from a horde of angry women.

"Run and I'll clobber you, you old pervert."

Deflating, Jiraiya stood still with a sigh.

"All that aside, it's good to finally see you again, Naruto. Everyone has been anxious to see your return." Tsunade smiled at him.

Returning her smile, Naruto said "It's good to see you too, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade looked at Naruto in surprise. "'Tsunade-sama', not 'Baa-chan'? Wow Jiraiya, maybe you can be a good influence when you want to be."

Pouting with crossed arms, the white-haired toad sage responded "Don't sound so surprised. I am the legendary Jiraiya. No task is beyond my awesome powers to accomplish."

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the ever-present childish tendencies of her old teammate. "Am I to assume his skills have seen a similar transformation?"

Jiraiya sported a cocky grin and said "Hehe, let's just he takes after a _certain_ power couple. Put him up against someone of Kakashi's level and you'll find he can equal or even beat them. Can the same be said for your new student? I heard you took on a new pupil." He briefly glanced at Sakura.

Tsunade responded just as cockily, "I'd say I have enough faith in her abilities to bet on her and expect to win. And she hasn't just been studying under me, ya know."

By this point, Sakura and Naruto were blushing in embarrassment of the words of their respective masters. But then a knock sounded on one of the Hokage's windows, distracting everyone in the room.

Recognizing the source, Tsunade let in the silver-haired shinobi who briefly looked up at the blonde ninja with a smile.

"Ah Naruto, it was you. I heard there was an unexpected commotion at the village gate. And with the racket I could hear all the way from the ground… well, I figured it could only be you," he said with with a chuckle, then returning his gaze to his 'Icha Icha' book.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yo," he said, barely looking up from the adult book he was reading.

"That's not how you greet an old student, sensei…" Naruto said with a pout.

Ignoring him, Kakashi spoke to Sakura. "Are we still on for Genjutsu training later, Sakura?" he asked in his usual detached tone.

Before Sakura could answer, Naruto jumped in excitedly. "Wait you've been training Sakura, Kakashi-sensei?!"

When the jonin nodded, Naruto said depressedly "Looks like I'm the only one of Team 7 you left out, sensei…"

Sakura giggled at Naruto's return to form. "Don't worry Naruto, sensei has just been helping me to master Genjutsu. Since the Sharingan is naturally adept at casting Genjutsu and I was pegged to be a strong Genjutsu-user, Kakashi-sensei thought it was was a good idea to help me expand my arsenal over the last couple of years. I doubt you'd find this training to be very fun, it doesn't involve any flashy moves."

Naruto scratched his cheek and admitted with a chuckle, "Ya got me there, Sakura-chan. But don't think I'm the same as before either, I can do subtlety as well."

Tsunade coughed to get everyone's attention again. "The illusion training will have to wait."

"Aw, how come sensei?"

After sending brief smirk Jiraiya's way, Tsunade said "Because we need to test yours and Naruto's ability to work as a team before sending you out on missions together again. Naruto has been out of the system for a while, after all."

Naruto scratched his cheek again and asked "And how are you going to test that?"

Kakashi spoke up this time. "How about the Bell Exercise, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade looked amused. "I was just about to suggest it myself, Kakashi. Could it be you're just as excited to see how they've improved? After all, you've only seen Sakura's improved Genjutsu."

"Hn, you got me there Lady Hokage."

Looking at her clock and seeing that it was just after 11am, Tsunade said "We will meet at training field 7 at 3:00pm. Sharp, Kakashi. A minute passed that time and I'll see to it that Jiraiya isn't fit to publish any more of those ridiculous books."

Kakashi and Jiraiya looked at the blonde Hokage in horror of the threat. Kakashi mumbled in agreement to be on time.

"Good, I can't wait to see the results of your training, Naruto," Tsunade said with a pleased smile.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe how good it felt to be back in the village. Although he could see a number of changes, it was nice seeing a lot of familiar places. The addition of Tsunade's face to the Hokage Monument still threw him for a loop. It was odd to see a mountain look so different than when he'd last seen it.

However, what really had him in high spirits was hanging out with his old teammate.

'The years have been good to her… in more ways than one. Studying medical ninjutsu under Lady Tsunade, learning to master Genjutsu under Kakashi-sensei… I can't wait to see what she can pull off! I doubt she can top some of my new moves though, hehehe.'

Then her recalled her developed body, so he had to fight back a blush before Sakura realized the direction of his thoughts.

As they had 4 hours before they needed to get to the training field, Naruto and Sakura decided to spend the intervening hours getting reacquainted with each other.

"Wow, so you work at the hospital now, Sakura-chan? Well, I should probably ask you to reserve a bed for me now so you can get it warm for me," he said while grinning at a local coffee shop they went to after stopping by Ichiraku's briefly.

"Har har Naruto. I better not see you there anytime soon. I want you to take care of yourself for once, you hear me?"

"Hehe, I'll try but I can't make any promises about this." He rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Sighing, Sakura turned the conversation to Naruto. "So… what have you been up to the last couple of years besides training?"

"Hmm," he said while scratching his chin. "Visiting a lot of war torn lands - mostly minor nations - and helping out with rebuilding and protection, I guess. Especially orphanages. With my clones, repairing smaller houses and running out bandits is a breeze."

Sakura seemed surprised by what he said. "Oh, that's really sweet of you Naruto. I know you, er, were an orphan too. Is that why you helped them?"

"Well, it wasn't just that. I've been doing a lot of reading too, and before you say anything, yes I can read."

Sakura smirked slightly and said "Hey, the words never escape my lips." Naruto smirked a little in response.

He continued, "A lot of the minor nations get hit really hard by all the wars between the larger nations, so I dunno, I was wondering if there was a way to stop that. When I was out there, I saw just how much hate and pain there was in the world. Hm, I feel really silly putting it like this, but I guess that's the thing I want to change," he said embarrassedly while rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't be embarrassed Naruto. That's a nice goal, even if it is a pretty grandiose. But then again, if the goal wasn't seemingly impossible then it couldn't be the goal of Naruto Uzumaki, hehe~"

"I suppose that's the reason I found to stick with my goal of becoming Hokage."

"Huh?" she said in surprise at hearing that old declaration return to his lips.

"Well, I figure that as Hokage I'd be in a prime position to help put a stop to the conflicts that spill over into the minor nations, ya know? To build up those who get hurt and to minimize the wars that wreck so many lives."

"Ah, makes sense. I've gotta say, I'm a little surprised how much you've changed, Naruto."

"Hey, inside I'm still me. I just got a change in perspective, I guess."

Sakura nodded, and then recalled what she'd learned from Tsunade after few months prior.

"Listen, Naruto, could we talk about something?" she said in a more serious tone of voice.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Sure. What'd you have in mind?"

"I-it's about the memory scroll Tsunade used to copy the memories of your last mission…"

Naruto's face fell slightly. "Oh, that. Uh OK, shoot," he said nervously.

"I just wanted you to know… nothing I saw there changed how I feel about you. If anything, it made me appreciate you more, for being you. You're still my best friend and nothing can change that, 'kay?" She reached across the table for his hand and squeezed it to emphasize the point.

Naruto looked down at their entwined hands a began to blush furiously, a blush Sakura returned causing her to quickly let go of his hand before it became awkward.

"Sakura-chan, thank you. That means a lot to me," he said genuinely, after a moment of silence.

Winking, she replied "No problem, Naruto~"

Although they didn't notice, a number of other customers at the coffee shop, as well as some passerby, had seen them drinking coffee together and began to draw their own conclusions about all the blushing and hand holding they'd seen between the handsome blonde and the beautiful pinkette. It was barely a rumor at this point, but it was likely to spread around the village quickly once it got going.

After walking around the village some more for the next couple of hours, and catching up with some of his old friends (Hinata passed out before he finished a sentence), Naruto and Sakura began to work their way toward training field 7.

Sakura was still feeling a bit off kilter at having held Naruto's hand. He was so different than he was before, yet oddly still very much himself.

'Not to mention… he's pretty hot now,' she thought to herself.

!

'I did not just think that, no way! Naruto's just an old friend...'

' **CHA! There's no denying it, Naruto came back a hunk! Did you see those muscles? The trimmed hair? The black jacket? We better make our move before Ino sees, hell yea!** '

Sakura almost wanted to groan. She thought that part of her mind had finally gone away over the years. Apparently it just went into hibernation.

Trying to distract her mind from such thoughts, Sakura said "We still have a bit of time before we need to arrive, Naruto. Shouldn't we strategize about how we're going to get the bells from sensei?"

"Yea let's get to it. Better than trying to work it out on the fly."

"First we should map out what we know about Kakashi-sensei's abilities and try to pick up any potential weaknesses we can exploit."

As soon as Sakura mentioned working out Kakashi's weakness, he had a flashback of Kakashi's reaction to Tsunade's threat to end the future of Jiraiya's 'Icha Icha' series.

"Hehe. Sakura-chan, I may have found at least one weakness we can exploit," Naruto said while giggling.

After explaining it to her, she laughed in agreement. "That would make a good distraction, we should use it early in the test. If that plan fails, what should we fall back on?"

"Hm, we should compare notes on some of each other's new abilities first. That'll make it easier to strategize the appropriate fallback plans."

Sakura nodded her head at his sensible suggestion.

* * *

 **(3:00pm, Training Field 7)**

Sakura and Naruto stood against a tree as they watched Kakashi walk up to them.

Smiling at his old students, the talented Jonin said "Well you two, you know the drill. You have until sundown to take the bells from me. Be warned though."

Kakashi lifted the left side of his forehead protector to reveal his 3-tomoe Sharingan.

"I will not be going easy on you, so you'd best come at with with your A-game."

Naruto and Sakura stepped away from the tree and assume their stances. Kakashi chuckled, surprised they would use such a direct method to try and win.

"Alright, begin!" he shouted. The 2 charged him. Just as he prepared to intercept them in close-range combat, the 2 burst into smoke, leaving the Jonin alone in the part of the training ground.

"Eh? Interesting Naruto. I wonder what you hoped to accomplish with that?"

Kakashi concentrated on detecting his students by using his prodigious sense of smell. However to his surprise, he suddenly sensed Naruto's scent emanating from all directions around him.

"Ah, you're making my sense of smell a non-issue by placing clones of yourself all over the damn place."

Chuckling to himself, he continued, "But you've forgotten one thing Naruto. Sakura doesn't know the Shadow Clone Technique, so I simply have to follow her scent."

Catching a whiff of the familiar smell, Kakashi sped toward it at blinding speed.

* * *

"You think he bought it?" Sakura asked Naruto as they stood in a densely packed part of the forest.

"He did. Some of the clones near him dispelled to inform me Kakashi is coming at us."

As soon Kakashi came into view, Naruto dispelled all of his remaining clones to regain the chakra he split between them.

"Let's get this party started!" Naruto shouted. Sakura slammed her fist into the ground and used her Chakra-Enhanced Strength to shatter the surrounding ground and kick up a lot of dust.

Sakura jumped into the tall trees as Naruto began their attack plan.

 _Wind Release: Dust Cloud!_

The wind technique bathed the area in a thick cloud of dust that Sakura's punch kicked up. Unlike the Byakugan, the Sharingan was just as hampered by dust and other physical obstructions as any normal pair of eyes.

Sakura began her own stage of the plan and slammed her fist into the tree she was standing. Although she didn't use her Chakra-Enhanced Strength to destroy the tree with her hit, the sound of the impact was loud enough that Kakashi could hear it.

Naruto threw a kunai with an attached explosive tag into the dust cloud. Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw it, causing him to speed out of the dust cloud to avoid the incendiary explosion that followed.

"A nice effort you two, but it'll take more than something that rudimentary to trip me up!" he called out. Kakashi suddenly detected a presence closing in from behind him and turned to meet it.

...Only to come face to face with the female on the cover of Jiraiya's "Icha Icha Violence". Over his storied career Kakashi had been on the receiving end of every kind of attack imaginable, but this was just playing dirty.

"It can't be!" he shouted in terror.

In his ridiculous mistake, he nearly allowed Sakura to sneak up behind him and snatch the bells from his belt loop.

Kakashi jumped to the side to avoid her, although it was a close call. He then dispelled the Genjutsu by disrupting his own chakra blow, causing the angry female apparition to fade away.

Turning towards Sakura, Kakashi clapped for her. "Not bad Sakura, I didn't even notice that Genjutsu you placed on me. It was a sound generated illusion, yes? I wondered what the purpose of that sound made was when I was caught up in Naruto's smokescreen."

Smiling, Sakura said "Not bad sensei. Naruto and I thought for sure you'd fall for that."

Kakashi's head drooped in shame. "Am I really held in such low regard?"

"It's your own fault sensei, we always see you reading Jiraiya-sensei's boring novels," Naruto called out from behind Kakashi.

'A pincer attack, eh? It's time to see what they can really do.'

As Naruto and Sakura ran toward Kakashi from opposite sides, Kakashi awaited their Taijutsu barrage. He was pleasantly surprised. Both had significantly improved. Naruto started his assault with several well-timed jabs and crosses that Kakashi was able to bob and slip away from with relative ease, while nailing Naruto with a few hooks himself. To mix things up, Naruto interjected a few overhand punches to force Kakashi to actually block his attacks. However, Kakashi's Taijutsu prowess and Sharingan made stopping them relatively easy.

Having noticed Sakura setting up behind Kakashi, Naruto went for a feint punch only to quickly transition into a roundhouse kick. In order to avoid it, Kakashi moved backwards towards Sakura.

Sakura broke up the pace by trying to deliver several powerful strikes from behind that Kakashi narrowly avoided before turning around to face her head on.

'Shit!' Kakashi thought as he realized Naruto's deception. Sakura threw a long fist punch at Kakashi, who managed to duck in time. Going on the assault, he sent several blows at Sakura and managed to land with 2 hits to her ribcage despite the rest of his attacks being blocked. Not to be outdone, Sakura nailed Kakashi with a strong upset punch to his solar plexus during their exchange of fists.

'I should have expected this from her. Tsunade is one of the foremost Taijutsu specialists in the world,' he thought as he nursed bruised skin. 'Luckily, she isn't as physically strong as Tsunade-sama yet or I'd be dea-'

Sakura nearly nailed Kakashi with her next punch, a powerful haymaker which missed Kakashi's head and slammed into the tree behind him. That tree was sent flying back through the forest at ridiculous speeds, tearing up the woods behind where he had stood. Kakashi put some distance between himself and the two superpowered teens he was fighting.

"Phew. You might not have Tsunade-sama's insane natural strength just yet Sakura, but I can see her Chakra-Enhanced Strength works quite well for punching power." Although Kakashi sounded nonchalant as he said it, he was rather nervous given how close she was to whacking him with that technique.

"I'm impressed with you two. Each of you have considerably improved your speed and Taijutsu. You're nearly as fast as I am. However… you're still too naive!"

After doing a Snake hand sign, Kakashi slammed his right hand onto the ground.

 _Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique!_

The ground in the area suddenly began to undulate like the surface of the ocean, causing his two students to stumble.

While the two fell to the ground, Kakashi jumped far away from the seismic disturbance onto the surface of a nearby river and began a long hand sign sequence.

 _Tiger → Ox → Monkey → Rabbit → Ram → Boar → Ox → Horse → Monkey → Tiger → Dog → Tiger → Snake → Tiger → Ox → Monkey → Rabbit → Bird_

 _Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!_

From his mouth, Kakashi expelled an enormous amount of water at Naruto and Sakura at high speed. Befitting its designation as an A-rank jutsu, the destruction the jutsu left in its wake was incredible. It blew away the ground and surrounding trees as it neared Naruto and Sakura.

The two shinobi grinned in response and took action to counter Kakashi's attack.

Sakura started things off by using Kakashi's own favored defensive technique. _Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!_

Because Earth techniques were naturally resistant to Water ones, Sakura's earthen barrier was able to survive the blast of Kakashi's attack, though it was greatly damaged. Naruto quickly followed up with a jutsu of his own.

Appearing atop Sakura's wall, Naruto used _Fire Release: Flame Bullet!_

The technique ejected oil from Naruto's mouth which was quickly ignited. As the large fireball neared Kakashi, he responded quickly with _Water Release: Water Formation Wall!_

The technique sent a large amount of water from the river he stood on out in front of Kakashi to douse the fireball. However, Kakashi hadn't realized he was being played.

The Naruto in front of him was a Shadow Clone. The real Naruto had been observing the fight from the woods behind him. Because Naruto had already dove into the river water before fleeing into the woods, Kakashi hadn't yet picked up the real Naruto's scent behind him.

Naruto had slowly been executing a technique to end the test. He had been slowly transforming the ground surrounding the river into mud in which to ensnare Kakashi once he was sufficiently distracted. By doing some of the terrain alteration now, it would allow him to quickly transform the entire area around Kakashi faster than even Kakashi could avoid when surprised.

'Now's our chance!'

 _Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!_

Suddenly, the swampification of the area increased dramatically, quickly trapping Kakashi into an adhesive bog while he was distracted blocking the fireball of Naruto's Shadow Clone. Much of the river had instantly transformed into a large mud swap.

"What?!" Kakashi shouted. He was unable to jump out of the swamp Naruto had spawned under his feet. 'This is Jiraiya's jutsu! Need to act fast or I'm done for!'

 _Raikiri Current!_

As Earth's natural counter, Kakashi's Lightning technique was able to loosen up the sticky mud trapping him by coating his body in sparks of lightning chakra, allowing him to jump out of Naruto's jutsu back onto solid land before the approaching Sakura could reach reach.

"I've gotta hand it to you both, you almost had me. But it will take even more to make me throw in the towel!"

Kakashi grabbed a smoke bomb from his rear pouch and threw it on the ground as a smokescreen to escape his students back into the surrounding woods of training ground 7.

Naruto palmed his face in irritation as he walked towards Sakura. "Damn, he's even craftier than I remember…"

Before Sakura could respond, Naruto was suddenly pulled into the ground up to his neck. Kakashi popped out of the ground and smiled at the nostalgic scene.

"You shouldn't let your guard down, Naruto. You're not the only one here who can use the Shadow Clone Technique!"

This Kakashi then poofed into smoke, showing it to be the jonin's own Shadow Clone.

A tick appeared on Sakura's head as she said in annoyance "Naruto, pay attention or we're going to lose!"

Naruto bowed his head in shame as Sakura pulled him out of the ground by his collar.

"Sakura-chan, how are we going to beat him? Neither of those strategies worked and I'm not sure resorting to larger scale jutsu is the answer here."

Sakura took up a thinking posture for a few moments before looking at Naruto again.

"Naruto, what other sorts of techniques did Jiraiya-sama teach you besides those Elemental jutsu?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he answered, "Well, we spent awhile on spying and infiltration techniques. Since Jiraiya-sensei spends a lot of his time doing such work for Konoha, he's a master of such skills and wanted to pass then on to me."

Nodding her head, Sakura continued "Then maybe we need to work some of those into the next attempt. Kakashi-sensei doesn't know everything we've learned yet, so he may be expecting us to resort to overpowering him since he's overcome our other skillsets so far."

Naruto's face broke into a grin. "Hehe, that gives me an idea, Sakura-chan. But you'll have to be quick about ending it after I set the stage."

Sakura giggled at Naruto's childlike glee, finding it infectious. As the two discussed their final strategy, Sakura realized Naruto really had grown more than just physically.

* * *

 **(30 Minutes Later)**

Having hidden himself to catch his breath, Kakashi was growing a bit unsettled. He doubted Naruto and Sakura were unable to find him, which made him nervous about whatever they were planning.

'Hm, they've already exhausted the kinds of skills they learned from their master's. But they have the advantage of having large scale attacks to overpower me, Naruto especially. It will take more than that to finish me though', he thought, strengthening his resolve to push his students to work together to take him down.

At his 12 o'clock, Kakashi picked up a fast moving target. Sakura burst into the clearing in front of his position.

Thanks to his Sharingan's ability to see chakra, Kakashi could tell by the chakra that it was indeed Sakura and not a transformed Naruto.

But then that thought was turned on its head as the girl suddenly spawned a Rasengan in her right hand and proceeded thrust it at Kakashi as she closed in on his position.

Kakashi leapt to the side to avoid the technique and its detonation as it tore through the trees he had been hiding between.

'I'm not sure how you disguised your chakra Naruto but using your own technique gives away the ghost!' he thought in amusement.

But then to Kakashi's surprise, Sakura's shadow began to transform into Naruto, who took a deep breath and then ran at the shocked Kakashi.

 _Toad Flatness — Shadow Manipulation Technique!_

Kakashi was surprised to see Naruto use such a technique. It wasn't the kind of jutsu he associated with Naruto given it's lack of flair. It allowed Naruto to take control of someone and hide in their shadow so long as he held his breath.

Naruto then charged Kakashi with another Rasengan. Kakashi jumped backwards and Naruto slammed the jutsu into the ground throwing up a large amount of debris and producing a loud explosion. Before Kakashi could assess their intentions, he was grabbed from behind by a pair of strong, yet unseen arms which slowly became visible. As he had been in midair when grabbed, he couldn't change his trajectory to escape.

 _Transparent Escape Technique!_

The 'Naruto' behind Kakashi had used his invisibility and the distraction caused by the original Naruto to grab Kakashi while he was flat-footed. Kakashi's arms were pinned above his head by this Naruto.

Unfortunately for Kakashi, before he could overcome his current predicament, Sakura appeared in front of him in a flash to settle the fight.

 _Water Prison Technique!_

Sakura spat out a significant amount of water and trapped Kakashi and the 'Naruto' detaining him on a sphere of the liquid, preventing him from moving.

Kakashi almost felt ashamed to have been trapped in this jutsu yet again.

'Sakura clearly remembered how effective Zabuza was at using this technique against me all those years ago.' Kakashi thought in amusement. 'And with this Shadow Clone holding me, I can't cast any jutsu to escape. Heck, _Raikiri Current_ would hurt me just as much in this scenario... They've really grown.'

"Well Kakashi-sensei, I think this is checkmate," Sakura said exuberantly from outside the Water Prison.

The real Naruto walked up and stuck his hand into the water prison to relieve Kakashi of his bells.

After Sakura ended the Water Prison Technique, Kakashi sighed in defeat, before suddenly laughing. A sight quite foreign to his old students.

After he put his headband back over his Sharingan, Kakashi said "I can't believe you two, you've really improved. It's been a long time since I've felt that outmatched. The array of elemental techniques you two used was definitely a surprise to me. Heck, I'm surprised you didn't try to overwhelm me with Shadow Clones, Naruto. And those infiltration techniques were a well executed."

Smirking, Naruto said "Hey hey sensei, I'm not the same kid I once was, you know."

Turning to Sakura, the jonin continued "And as for you Sakura, I was quite impressed with your use of Genjutsu. Seems you've been doing some self-study, I never taught you any Genjutsu that used sound as the trigger for the illusion."

"Well sensei, that Sharingan of yours makes visual Genjutsu particularly hard to use on you. I knew I'd need an edge when going up against those with Dojutsu~"

Kakashi smiled at the two, a smile that reached both of his eyes. "And the use of deception you two was showed quite impressive. It seems I have much to learn about seeing underneath the underneath myself."

Suddenly, Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shizune walked out from the woods behind them, with the female Hokage sporting a satisfied smile and Shizune cheering on the two teens.

"See what I mean Jiraiya? I believe I won this bet."

Jiraiya was almost in tears. "How can you of all people win a bet?! I was sure your awful luck would guarantee me victory…"

Naruto eyed the pair of Sannin. "A bet?"

Tsunade smirked at her former teammate. "This pervert bet me that you would be the one to cast the jutsu that ended the fight. If he won, I agreed to finally go out on a date with him. But as I had total faith in Sakura, I knew Jiraiya stood no chance."

Jiraiya smacked Naruto in the head. "Kid, how could you let your sensei down like this?! I was this close, THIS CLOSE!"

Naruto squinted at Jiraiya and said "Serves you right for making a bet on the outcome of our training match. I hope Tsunade-sama had a good condition for her victory…"

Tsunade began to laugh uncontrollably. "Oh don't worry about that Naruto. My condition was that _when_ I won, Jiraiya would be banned from the village onsen for 3 months."

Jiraiya began to bawl comically. "Do any of you understand how much valuable research I'm going to be losing?! This could impact the publishing of my upcoming _Icha Icha Tactics_! My millions of readers will only have you to blame!"

Having heard enough, Tsunade grabbed Jiraiya by the back of his clothing and proceeded to throw him out of the training ground, over the horizon, using her superhuman strength. All the while, Jiraiya screamed for his life. Naruto paled at seeing such strength again.

'Note to self: do not anger Sakura-chan…' Naruto thought as his lips thinned.

* * *

 **(A/N):** Hey, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. Please review, even if you don't have an account. Tell me if you liked it, tell me what you'd like to see in the future and tell me any constructive criticism you have! Next chapter Gaara's kidnapping by Akatsuki will start. However, I will most likely go through those events rather quickly since they're not as important to the events in the story I'd like to focus on. At least, not until Naruto uses the 2-Tailed chakra cloak against Deidara.

I always felt Naruto was really underpowered when he came back to Konoha in Part 2 of Naruto. Sakura had a huge improvement in canon of course. However, in Part 1 Sakura was stated to be a natural fit for Genjutsu given her perfect chakra control. And while she channeled that into her medical ninjutsu genius, I felt there was no reason she couldn't have also picked up Genjutsu skills from Kakashi or Kurenai.

I also enjoyed actually showing Naruto and Sakura using some elemental techniques. Kishimoto had so much he could have done with their abilities but he basically kept them to the same kinds of attacks and tactics throughout the entire series. And having Naruto use some of Jiraiya's techniques, and Sakura using techniques she's seen Kakashi use (or techniques she saw used against Kakashi) made perfect sense to me.

As of right now in this fanfic, Naruto can use Fire, Earth and Wind natures (although he hasn't mastered his affinity, Wind, yet because Jiraiya isn't a master at Wind Release techniques).

Sakura knows Water and Earth natures, though I haven't decided on her affinity yet. Unlike Naruto with Wind, Sakura's affinity was never revealed (as of the time of the upload of this chapter anyway).

 **Favorite, Follow, Review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Suna & Akatsuki

**(A/N)** : There won't be a lot of NaruSaku this chapter. There's a bit, but not much. Sorry in advance! :-(

 **Edit:** I forgot to mention. Due to some valid criticism left on the previous chapter, chapter 2's fight scene has been updated so that it's more believable and showcases Kakashi's abilities better, so go reread the fight with Kakashi. Thanks for the reviews!

-MindForged

* * *

 **(A Few Days Later)**

As Team 7 (with Temari leading them) raced through the large desert that took up much of the Land of Wind, Naruto couldn't help but feel deeply anxious. Although his connection to Gaara couldn't match Temari's, he was distraught when Konoha was informed that Akatsuki had defeated and captured the Jinchūriki-turned-Kage.

Naruto had learned Gaara was made Kazekage while on his training trip with Jiraiya. The selection of a new Kage was the sort of political event you couldn't help but hear about. Even though he was slightly jealous Gaara had achieved the goal Naruto himself sought, he was also inspired by it. It showed him that even as hated as he and Gaara once were in their respective villages, the could become well loved by the people if they worked hard enough to change their hearts.

'Still, these Akatsuki guys… if they could capture someone as strong as Gaara, then Jiraiya-sensei wasn't kidding about the threat they pose. They attacked a hidden village for crying out loud,' Naruto thought with a bit of nervousness. If they could attack Suna, Konoha could be next and that was something he could not allow.

After they (finally) saw the village come into view, Temari lead them into Sunagakure quickly as the guards had informed them that her other brother, Kankuro, had been injured and poisoned by the teammate of the Akatsuki member who kidnapped Gaara. Apparently even the village's top medic and poison specialist, Lady Chiyo, was having no luck identifying and countering the Akatsuki member's poison.

As the group raced into the hospital and made their way towards the room they were told Kankuro was in. Naruto didn't really understand the details of what Sakura was doing, but he was still a bit in awe as he saw her take charge of the situation. She had examined Kankuro in a number of ways before finally telling the hospital staff in a commanding voice of her findings regarding the properties of the poison used on Kankuro and the steps she would undergo to neutralize it.

'Amazing. She's only 16 and she's already leading a bunch of experienced medical staff. I'll never understand how she and Tsunade can do all this complicated and precise work yet totally tear apart of battlefield with their bare hands.' The contradiction in their repertoire brought a small smile to Naruto's face.

Because he was so focused on Sakura, Naruto failed to notice Kakashi experiencing a case of mistaken identity…

An elderly voice broke Naruto from his musings, saying in a suspicious tone "That Leaf kunoichi… is she related that Slug Princess?"

Looking over at the wrinkled, elderly woman responsible for the remark, Naruto raised an eyebrow. He was tempted to make a flippant remark but he didn't want to possibly distract Sakura while doing such a delicate operation.

"Sakura-chan is Tsunade-sama's protégé."

Nodding at the confirmation of her suspicions, she continued, "I thought so. That Senju always did have a knack for neutralizing my poisons back during the previous Great Shinobi Wars. And I've seen her take charge on a battlefield when attending to wounded soldiers. This girl gives off the same vibe."

Naruto was starting to get a bit annoyed at the disrespectful way this hag was referring to the Hokage. Some might find it odd given how he would refer to respected members of society in the past, but he at least had the excuse of being a kid.

Chiyo smiled at the sight before her. "To think Konoha would send someone of this caliber. Times really are changing, it seems."

Before Naruto could respond, the previously silent Kakashi broke into the conversation. "It looks like Sakura is wrapping this up."

Naruto looked forwards and saw that Sakura's hands were enveloped in a strange-looking water, which she used to pull out the majority of the poison within the Sand shinobi's body.

After returning with Lady Chiyo with the herbal medicine needed to combat the remaining poison in Kankuro's body, Kankuro was lucid enough to explain what befell him.

"L-lady Chiyo, it was him, your grandson…" he sputtered due to his delicate state.

The Suna elder frowned at the information. "So Sasori is still up and kicking…"

"There's no mistaking it. He said it himself and he knew all the operations and tactics of my puppets, because he was the one who made them after all," Kankuro said bitterly.

Lady Chiyo nodded solemnly. Kankuro grabbed ahold of Naruto's wrist and said desperately, "Naruto, I'm begging you. Bring my little brother back, don't let those bastards kill him."

Nodding seriously, Naruto responded "Count on it. Gaara's my friend, plus I still owe him for coming to my team's rescue a few years back."

"A-actually Naruto, Temari and I came as wel-"

Naruto didn't seem to catch his reply as he began to walk off, causing Kankuro so sigh in annoyance.

* * *

Thanks to the scent sample of Sasori that Kankuro had obtained, Kakashi managed to find the scent of the puppetmaster Akatsuki member. Within a few hours Kakashi announced they weren't too far from the man.

However, as they run through a forest on the outskirts of the Land of Wind, Kakashi saw the black-robed figure step into their path and called for his team to halt.

Before Naruto could ask what the hold up was, he saw the raven-haired man ahead of them and began to glare at the man, while growling slightly.

"Damn!" Kakashi said seriously. "We had to come across guy like this so soon, and we're not even at their base yet…"

Sakura saw the young man ahead of them and was struck with a sense of familiarity she couldn't place. Looking at the displeased looks on Kakashi and Naruto's face, she asked "Just who is this guy?"

Without breaking his concentration on the man ahead, Naruto said "Itachi. Itachi Uchiha."

Sakura's eyes grew wide as she turned to Uchiha. 'You mean this is the guy who made Naruto and Sasuke's lives hell?' she thought to herself.

"Kakashi-senpai, Naruto-kun, it's been awhile," Itachi spoke in a monotone voice.

"So this is the child who murdered his entire clan… It's sad really, to see such a storied foe massacred by one of their own in cold blood," Lady Chiyo said.

The black-robed man stepped closer to their group, causing Kakashi to shout "Don't look in his eyes!"

Everyone obeyed his command, though Sakura was having a bit of difficulty. "How are we going to fight him if we have to constantly fight the urge to look at his face?"

"I asked Gai for some tips. We have to read his movements from his feet alone. If we look into his Sharingan the fight is over."

Chiyo seemed unconvinced. "Surely we can simply ambush him from behind while you attack him head on? Even if we fail we can dispel whatever Genjutsu he catches you in."

"Normally that would be an effective strategy, my students here even used it on me. But against this guy, it's a death warrant. He has developed an advanced Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan. If he catches us in his unique Genjutsu, we're done for."

Chiyo frowned. "How so?"

"His Genjutsu, 'Tsukuyomi', allows him to control the victim's perception of time within the illusion. You can feel like you were there for weeks but it will only have been a mere moment. It… breaks you psychologically," Kakashi finished hesitantly.

"Yes, you enjoyed your sojourn into my 'Tsukuyomi', didn't you senpai?" Itachi said, causing Kakashi to frown.

"Though I have to wonder Itachi… just how bad has the Mangekyo deteriorated your eyesight?" Kakashi said as he lifted his forehead protector to reveal his own Sharingan.

Itachi's eyes widened briefly at Kakashi's words, realizing their implications. "How interesting senpai. Could it be that you have awakened it as well?"

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly. "Who's to say? I'm simply concerned for your health, Itachi."

"Hn."

"What a troublesome opponent," Chiyo said. "Such a genjutsu borders on the absurd. Kakashi, we'll follow your lead."

Having been silent during the exchange, Naruto took a step forward. "Sensei, let me take the lead on this."

Kakashi frowned. "Naruto, I know you want to take Itachi down for what he's done, but don't let revenge cloud your mind. My skillset is more appropriate for taking him head on."

Naruto turned his head toward Kakashi. "Sensei, I'm not just asking this for payback. I need to prove to myself that when the time comes I can handle them when they come for me. Besides, Jiraiya-sensei was quite… thorough when he was training me o=in tactics to use on Sharingan users."

"Hm, fine. I'll be your backup in this case. But if I judge the situation to be going south, I will be taking your place."

Naruto nodded, finding himself both excited and nervous at the prospect of taking on Itachi. Before he took on the man, Naruto quickly whispered a question into Sakura's ear, to which she nodded her head.

"Alright, let's go!"

* * *

Unbeknownst to Kakashi's group, another group of Konoha shinobi were engaged in their own battle with a certain shark-like Akatsuki member wielding a massive, bandaged sword.

Upon seeing him, Neji had been blown away by the amount of chakra the shark man possessed.

"I haven't seen someone with this much chakra since I fought Naruto," Neji said in shock.

Kisame smiled at the comment. "Naruto eh? Been awhile since I ran into brat. Kid was as troublesome as they come. He's lucky that Sannin showed up. But that's enough talking, it's time for feasting!"

 _Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!_

Kisame produced a veritable lake of water from his mouth, drowning the entire area in his preferred element.

Team Gai tried to hold the shark man with a combination of Neji's Gentle Fist techniques and Tenten's projectiles. However, the main escaped underwater, only to resurface with several Water Clones.

The clones sped surrounded Team Gai. Rock Lee engaged his clone in some high speed taijutsu, delivery a series out strong punches and kicks to his clone in an attempt to defeat it. Tenten was having little luck with her summon ninja tools. But as more Water Clones were created they surrounded Team Gai and locked them inside of Water Prisons. However, Might Gai was able to avoid that fate by blitzing through the Water Clone that came after him.

The real Kisame began to laugh from behind his liquid brethren. "So brainless beast, let's see if watching helplessly as your team drowns can jog your memory of who I am." Turning to engage the real Kisame in armed combat with his trusty nunchaku, Gai began to match Kisame blow for blow with their respective weapons.

As the real Kisame was distracted by his former jonin-sensei, Neji took action to save their team. The Hyūga Clan possessed 2 Kekkai Genkai. The obvious one was the esteemed Byakugan; however, the clan's 2nd bloodline ability was equally fearsome: the ability to release chakra from any of their tenketsu. Ninja can normally only release chakra from the tenketsu in their hands and feet, whereas the Hyūga could do so from any tenketsu in their body, allowing for uniquely devastating attacks.

One of which Neji employed, despite having been born to the Branch Family of the Hyūga who are not taught such techniques. Since these Kisame were mere water clones, Neji didn't bother trying to block their chakra points with the Gentle Fist taijutsu style and simply aimed to take them all down at once. After expelling chakra from several chakra points to disrupt his own Water Prison, Neji got to work.

 _Kaiten!_

By releasing chakra from all his chakra points at once and rotating at high speed, Neji could use the Hyūga Clan's most potent ability: A barrier which worked as both a nearly unbeatable defense and a powerful offensive maneuver by producing a dome of fast moving chakra around him.

This attack took down all the Water Clones at once and cancelled out the other Water Prisons, allowing Gai to focus on Kisame without worrying about his team. Suddenly however, the shark man appeared in front of Gai and slammed his greatsword Samehada into him, causing him to crash into the lakebed below.

 _Water Release: 5 Feeding Sharks!_

"Let's end this fight, whoever you are!" Gai thought before the water sharks could attack him. Assuming a certain pose, Gai began to use his forbidden Taijutsu technique.

 _Eight Inner Gates - 6th Gate: Open!_

Gai unleashed a massive burst of chakra which kept Kisame's sharks and lake of water at bay due to the enormous force of the chakra he released.

Jumping toward Kisame, Gai assumed a crane pose as he appeared over the top of the water, causing Lee to smile. "This fight is over!"

Gai began to throw countless punches at the real Kisame with incredible speed, which caused his fists to become ablaze.

 _Morning Peacock!_

The flurry of blows on Kisame caused his own body to burst into flames from the many fireballs released from Gai's fists. Gai then dealt the finishing blow, sending Kisame crashing into his own lake at high speed.

* * *

"Now Sakura!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura weaved through a few hand signs, though no one present besides Naruto knew what jutsu they were for.

As he engaged Itachi in close combat, Naruto didn't bother with Kakashi's proposed method of combating Itachi's Genjutsu. Not because it wouldn't work, but because Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to maintain such a high level taijutsu skill. Instead, he had quickly told Sakura of an idea Jiraiya had given him to combat powerful Genjutsu users…

 _Flashback_

"But Jiraiya-sensei, what if I can't break the Genjutsu?" a younger Naruto had said.

"Well kid, that's where your friends come in. So long as you've got an ally with you who can use their chakra to disrupt the flow of yours, the Genjutsu will be ended."

Naruto scratched his head and 'hm-ed' for a moment. "I dunno sensei, that works after the Genjutsu is in place but doesn't that leave me too open? There's gotta be a way to counter Genjutsu that doesn't leave me a sitting duck until someone can touch me."

Jiraiya laughed at Naruto's astute question. "I'm impressed Naruto, you noticed the weakness of this method. Indeed, against someone like Itachi, you'd probably be KOed before anyone got to you. Based on what Kakashi said, that bastard can even control your perception of time in his strongest Genjutsu. Genjutsu users who can place your mind in a whole illusory world are the highest class of illusionists. You'll believe you're still in the real world moving and attacking while your real body is frozen in place at the mercy of your foe. This is the level at which Itachi Uchiha operates and even here he's among the best."

Jiraiya sighed before smiling. "As with the other method Naruto, your friends are your greatest strength here. To proactively counter the best Genjutsu users you'll need a skilled illusionist yourself. They don't need to be a Genjutsu master, but their skill must be first class. They can cast a harmless illusion on you so that your opponent cannot control the chakra flow in your brain, preventing them from putting you under Genjutsu of their own."

Naruto was blown away by the clever tactic. "Woooah, sensei that's actually pretty clever of you."

Jiraiya pouted at Naruto. "Try not to sound so surprised kiddo. I _am_ one of the Legendary Sannin, a title bestowed by Hanzo the Salamander himself!" he exclaimed with a puffed chest.

Naruto responded good-naturedly, "I'd be more impressed by that if you didn't remind me everyday."

Naruto began to tap his chin in thought. "Sensei, couldn't you do this to yourself as well? If you cast a genjutsu on yourself wouldn't the effect be the same?"

"Indeed, but the problem is you and I aren't fit to be a Genjutsu users. Illusionists require a fine-grained control of their chakra in both jutsu efficiency and manipulation, as well as a keen eye for detail. The person who developed this secret art was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, Tsunade's grandfather. He passed it on to Lord Third who in turn taught it to me."

"Why would the Hokage need this tactic?"

"Ironically, he had his own rivalry with the clan head of the Uchiha clan in the days before Konoha's founding. Lord Hashirama and Madara Uchiha's battle for the Hokage position was so great it created that valley you and Sasuke fought in."

 _Flashback End_

Itachi couldn't understand why the Kyuubi Jinchūriki before him was unaffected by his Genjutsu. He was unable to take control of the chakra flow in his brain to place his illusions on the boy.

'It seems he's grown quite a lot in the intervening years. But avoiding my illusions doesn't leave me helpless, even through this medium!'

Naruto engaged Itachi in taijutsu. Naruto couldn't help but be amazed by the man's immense speed and skill. His mastery of the Uchiha Clan's Interceptor Fist taijutsu was undeniable. And combined with the predictive abilities of his Sharingan, Naruto wasn't surprised he was having trouble landing hits.

Itachi clocked Naruto with a strong kick to his left shoulder, so Naruto decided to keep the fighting closer. As Naruto closed in, he blocked a few of Itachi's jabs and crosses. He stepped to the side and managed to get past the Uchiha's guard to deliver a strong right uppercut to the man's jaw.

As the Uchiha flew back from the blow he suddenly righted himself and executed _Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!_

"Damn!" Naruto said as Itachi launched a fireball at him. 'I couldn't even see his hand signs, they were too fast.'

 _Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!_

Kakashi blocked Itachi's 'Great Fireball Technique' with his go-to defensive move.

'They cover for each other well,' Itachi thought. 'And speaking of which…'

A dense mist suddenly enveloped the area, hiding the group from Itachi's sight.

 _Hidden Mist Technique!_

"Thanks for that Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan!" Naruto said after the group temporarily retreated backwards into the trees behind them.

Sakura winked at Naruto and said "No problem! You seemed to be having trouble with that guy so Kakashi-sensei and I knew we'd have to save your behind."

"Hehe, he was stronger than thought," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head.

"Still Naruto, that Genjutsu counter was brilliant. You'll have to thank Jiraiya-sama for me."

Lady Chiyo got them back on track. "How are you going to take him down? I need to save my strength to go up against Sasori."

Naruto smirked at the Suna elder. "Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei and I left a couple of surprises for Itachi back there."

"You were remarkably quick on the uptake, Naruto. I keep forgetting you're not the same Genin you were a few years back."

Naruto rolled his before he continued. "Once Kakashi-sensei gets his part going, I'll take Itachi down once and for all."

"Hm, something about Itachi felt off to me." Kakashi mused to himself. "That Great Fireball Technique didn't have as much chakra in it as Itachi usually uses…"

Itachi was wondering when his opponents would make their move when Kakashi walked out from around the stone wall with a Raikiri alight in his hand.

"It's over, Itachi!" Kakashi shouted as he ran at Itachi at high speed.

'There's no way someone of his caliber would try such a straightforward method to win. There's some further ploy he's trying to lure me into,' Itachi thought.

Meeting Kakashi halfway, Itachi grabbed Kakashi's hand to prevent his Raikiri from reaching him, and sent a Shadow Clone around to grab Kakashi's arms from behind him. However, another Kakashi popped out of the ground between Kakashi and the real Itachi, aiming an uppercut at the Uchiha.

Itachi stepped back to avoid the surprise attack and then moved in to force Kakashi to look into his Sharingan eyes.

"I'm sorry senpai, but whatever you're trying to pull isn't going to work. You'll die. While I cannot cast Tsukuyomi right now, this Genjutsu will suffice!"

As Itachi placed what he thought was the original Kakashi into a Genjutsu where he believed he was being lit on fire, he felt something was amiss. But before he could figure it out, the 'Kakashi' he was looking at in the real world suddenly poofed into smoke revealing a smiling Naruto… who promptly exploded.

 _Clone Great Explosion!_

Itachi barely managed to get back far enough to avoid dying, but his left leg was still blown off by the explosion. Naruto's choice of jutsu surprised Itachi, seeing as it was a favorite of his own. Exploding Shadow Clones were an ANBU technique, to be used as a last resort when an agent had exhausted all means of subtly and silently eliminating a target. The clone would approach the target and end them. It was crude, but effective.

After having fallen to the ground unable to move properly, 2 more Narutos burst out from behind him with a large sphere of chakra held between them. The eyes of the Narutos were slitted and red, signifying their use of the Kyuubi's chakra to boost their speed even higher.

 _Oodama Rasengan!_

As they slammed the mass of whirling chakra into Itachi, he smiled at the growth he'd seen from the boy.

'Perhaps he can be trusted with Shisui's eye should they be needed.'

As the explosion of compressed chakra shook the area, Naruto found himself perplexed by the smile he saw Itachi bearing as he was hit.

As Team Kakashi approached the remains on the dead body, they found themselves in shock. The corpse before them turned out to be that of a Suna councilman, not of Itachi Uchiha.

* * *

Team Gai found themselves before a similar sight as they neared the resting place of who they had thought was Kisame Hoshigake.

"Was it all just a Transformation Technique?" Tenten asked in confusion.

Neji shook his head. "This is far beyond anything like that. I've heard of this Kisame before. His chakra level was worthy of the epithet 'The Tailless Tailed Beast', and that sword was definitely one of those used by the Seven Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist… Whatever jutsu that was, it was a perfect imitation, not subterfuge."

Gai refocused their attention on the mission. "We've been distracted for too long. This can wait, we need to backup Kakashi's group retrieving the Kazekage. Move out!"

"Yes sir!" responded the other 3 shinobi, as Kakashi's ninja hound Pakkun led them toward Kakashi's group.

* * *

As Team Kakashi and Chiyo jumped through the branches of the forest toward the location of Sasori's scent, Chiyo voiced a confusion she'd had for awhile.

"Just what does this Akatsuki even want the Tailed Beasts for, anyway?"

"It's unclear at present. All we know is they've amassed several of the beasts already, thanks to the group being made up of dangerous S-ranked shinobi."

"I would assume they were interested in making Jinchūriki of their own, but it takes years before a host can properly tap into the chakra of the Tailed Beast. Their chakra network has to acclimate to the intrusion of the powerful, foreign chakra."

Naruto wasn't interested in the conversation, so he upped his speed to get further away from the rest of the team until they finished.

Seeing this as a chance to air a question she had, Sakura asked Chiyo, "Is there a way to remove the Tailed Beast from a Jinchūriki?"

Chiyo nodded. "Oh sure, it's possible. Difficult no doubt, but it can be done."

Sakura looked happy, until Chiyo finished her response. "Of course, removing the beast from the Jinchūriki instantly kills the host. They simply can't handle the to their chakra network."

Sakura eyes widened at the answer she received. "What's the point of making people host these monsters then? It's horrible, no one deserves that," she said with heat in her voice.

"The Jinchūriki serve 2 purposes. They are to serve as human sacrifices by containing the horrid power of the beast to save others from their rampages. But they are also to be instruments of war, channeling their inner demon's incredible power for military domination."

Chiyo sighed before continuing. "To be a Jinchūriki is to live a cursed life, one that can only be escaped in death. It was I who inflicted this curse upon Gaara, as I sealed One-Tail - Shukaku - into him while his mother was pregnant with him. Still I wonder, why is Naruto so fixated on saving Gaara? Most people fear or despise Jinchūriki."

Kakashi had silently listened to the exchange but spoke up to answer this. "He wants to save Gaara because Naruto is also a Jinchūriki. The Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox into him on the day of his birth."

Chiyo swiftly turned to look at Naruto upon this revelation.

"For Naruto, Gaara is both a friend and a brother of sorts. One who perfectly understands the burden forced on him by another. But he also represents the kind of person Naruto wants to become. Someone who can change how the people view him through his own will and actions."

"Why did your Fourth Hokage choose him?" Chiyo asked with suspicion lacing her voice.

"Who knows," Kakashi replied in his usual detached voice. "Since Naruto is an orphan, he probably picked him because there was no one around to object," he lied smoothly.

Chiyo accepted the answer on the outside, but in her mind she couldn't help but view the answer with doubt. Jinchūriki were virtually always connected to the Kage in some way. It helped keep them bonded to and invested in the village as their family runs the place.

'And him being born on the day of Fox's attack, bearing spiky blond hair no less. And then that jutsu he used to finish off Itachi. Is that boy really…"

* * *

Team Gai had raced through the Land of Rivers behind Pakkun until the met up with Team Kakashi at what was apparently an Akatsuki lair.

Upon spotting the group, Lee found himself impressed by Naruto. Not only was his outfit better and more befitting a shinobi (not nearly as well as Lee's own, of course!), but he had an unmistakable air growth about him.

"Naruto-kun, it's great to see you!" Lee said ecstatically. "Once this mission is over I'm challenging you to a contest of strength!"

"Hey Bushy-Brows, same to you!" he responded happily. "As for a contest," Naruto eyed Kakashi who was trying not to draw attention to himself, and replied "we'll talk about that later, hehe..."

Before Lee could distract them from the task at hand with proclamations about youth, Neji asked for details about the obstruction blocking the entrance to the Akatsuki lair.

"I can see the barrier there, have you been able to breach it or find an opening?" Neji asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, Kakashi sensei says his Sharingan can find no gaps in the barriers coverage. We could bust it down perhaps, but any jutsu we have that could do damage like that would most likely collapse the entire cave too, which would be counterproductive. Not to mention, it would let the Akatsuki within know we're here."

Kakashi had been inspecting the jutsu formula that kept the barrier up and announced his findings to the group after jumping down from the seal tag that was placed on the massive boulder blocking the entrance.

"This is a _Five-Seal Barrier_. It's powerful and difficult to break. As Sakura said, brute force isn't an option here. The barrier can be dispelled by removing the 5 seal tags which sustain it. But I noticed worrying clause within the seal's formula," he finished with a frown.

"What was it, my Eternal Rival?" Gai asked in concern.

"Hm, unless I'm mistaken the formula would cause a duplicate of the 5 people who remove the 5 seals. The imitations would be an exact replica of that person at the time they removed the tag, right down to their skills, powers and tools."

Neji bit his thumb. "What a troublesome countermeasure. Any thoughts on how we go about this?"

"I for one would relish the opportunity to fight against myself. The chance to bypass my own limitations is too good a chance up!" Lee's eyes were aflame with the fire of youth.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Lee, growing stronger is great and all, but we don't have a lot of time."

Neji nodded, having been looking through the barrier to inspect the progress Akatsuki had made in removing Shukaku from Gaara. "Sakura is right, we don't have long. As far as I can tell, the Akatsuki are near to finishing removed Gaara's Tailed Beast. They're sealing it into a massive statue. Something about that statue is… disturbing."

This caused Naruto's eyes to widen. "I've got an idea guys." Performing a familiar hand sign, Naruto produced an incredible number of Shadow Clones.

 _Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

No one present had seen Naruto (nor anyone else) summon so many Shadow Clones. There had to be about a thousand of them.

Kakashi chuckled at the sight before him. "This is just ridiculous Naruto. Now what's your plan for all these clones?"

"It's simple really. If these tags will replicate us exactly as we are when we remove them, then if I send Shadow Clones with 1/1000th of my normal chakra…"

"...Then the imitations would be similarly weakened. Having all of another's abilities is all well and good. But if they lack the chakra to use them it does them no good. That's pretty clever, you whippersnapper." Chiyo began laughing and even snorted.

"And with 200 of my clones for each tag, defeating the tag's copies will be a cinch. Neji, can you locate all of the barrier tags?"

After informing Naruto if the locations of the 5 seal tags, the group waited for Naruto to inform them when his clones dispelled to let him know the deed was done.

After about 8 minutes, Naruto said "The seals have been removed and the . We need to break this bolder! Sakura-chan, would you like to do the honors?"

"Gladly."

As Kakashi jumped up the boulder to prepare to remove the tag, the rest of Team Kakashi and Team Gai took up formation a button-hook entry on both sides of the entrance.

"On my mark Sakura, bust this boulder the moment I remove this final tag. Neji, keep observing the inside so that we aren't caught off guard. There are no traps around the inside of the entrance, correct?"

After getting Neji's affirmative, Kakashi took ahold of the seal tag. "Alright. 3 - 2 - 1 - Go!"

Sakura appeared in front of the barrier at incredible speed.

"Shannaro!" she shouted as she slammed her right fist into the boulder, shattering it like glass.

Immediately, the 2 Konoha teams and Lady Chiyo ran into the large lair.

"Shit!" Deidara shouted. "How the hell did reinforcements catch up so quickly? Dammit leader, you said that barrier had a trap that would delay anyone long enough to complete the sealing!"

Sasori nodded, saying "Not to mention Itachi and Kisame's distraction earlier. We should have had more than enough time to complete the sealing."

The apparition that must have been their leader spoke with urgency. "Take the Jinchūriki and flee to the closest base nearby so we can finish! We haven't fully removed enough of the Shukaku's chakra yet!"

Before any other members could talk, 2 large fireballs were launched at the Statue and the members on its fingers by Naruto and Kakashi. As the 2 Akatsuki members physically present jumped away to avoid the flames, the astral projections of the other members dissipated along with the Statue to await the completion of the sealing.

"Deidara, take the Jinchūriki and flee. My jutsu is most suited to combating this number of foes."

"Tch. Fine, but I doubt you'll come out unscathed, Sasori. Your art doesn't have the necessary 'oomph' to devastate your foes thoroughly." Deidara threw several pieces of explosives clay onto the ground in front of the opposing shinobi. The explosion of the clay kicked up enough debris to allow Deidara to escape the lair on a bird shaped from his clay, with the Sand Jinchūriki to tucked away in the bird's mouth.

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted and took off after his fellow friend with haste.

Kakashi sighed. "Some things never change." Kakashi formed a Shadow Clone to relay his message while his real self followed Naruto.

"Guys, I'm going with Naruto to rescue Gaara. Tenten, your abilities are also suited for this sort of fight, so follow after my original." The weapons specialist nodded and disappeared at high speed using the _Body Flicker Technique_. "The rest of, backup Lady Chiyo to defeat Sasori. Neji, you handle observation of puppet traps and defense. As for Sasori, kill him if needed, but he's useful if you can capture him alive without casualties."

With that, the clone poofed into smoke.

Sasori spoke up. "I shouldn't be too surprised to see you, grandmother. You always were there for me, you even taught me the Puppet Jutsu. However, I've grown far beyond what you ever achieved in puppetry!"

Rather than the slow build-up he would have preferred, Sasori immediately unveiled his puppet made from the corpse of the Third Kazekage.

Chiyo frowned when she saw it. "So it was you who killed the 3rd Kazekage. It seems you have much to atone for, grandson."

The remaining Konoha shinobi were shocked by the revelation.

"That puppet was once a Kage, and he killed him? Damn, this guy must be unreal…" Sakura said.

"Not to worry Sakura. I've my own arsenal to call upon. However, before I release them, we need to defeat this shell of the 3rd. Seeing as he used it first, Sasori is certain to have another trump card to play should that puppet fall."

Sakura voiced another concern. "And what of his poison? We have enough antidote left for 4 injections, but 5 of us remain." Present were Chiyo, Sakura, Gai, Lee and Neji.

"The 4 of you should take the antidote should the need arise. Let the elder kick the bucket so you kids can live on, hehe."

Sakura shook her head. "I'll inject you if needed. After all, we need you to fight whatever else he had up his sleeve. We aren't adept at combating puppets."

Lee nodded in agreement. "I shall not let an ally fall simply so that I may live on in cowardice. The flames of my youth will burn the poison out of me!"

"Well said Lee!" Gai said with a huge grin.

Neji wanted to facepalm. "They've got the right idea anyway. As a Hyūga, I'm in the least danger in this fight. I should be prioritized last for the antidote," he said with a calm resolve.

Chiyo rolled her eyes. "I get it, I get it. Now let's take Sasori down!"

* * *

 **(5 Minutes Later)**

"Get back here you bastard!" Naruto shouted as he chased the blonde Akatsuki member who was flying a little over the forest Naruto was running through.

Deidara began to laugh. "So this is the Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails Itachi mentioned. Looks like I'll get to exceed my quota after all!"

Before Naruto let his anger get the best of him, Kakashi grabbed one of his shoulders. "Naruto, we need to be level headed if we want to save Gaara."

Naruto's jaw clenched, but he realized Kakashi was right. His fury could cause him to make a mistake that lost them Gaara.

Sighing, Naruto responded "You're right sensei, sorry I lost my head for a second. How are we going to do this?"

As Tenten caught up to them, Kakashi replied "Well this guy is probably hoping to capture you as well. He seems like the aggressive type, so he's likely hoping to goading you into attacking him head on so that he can immobilize you somehow and take you with he and Gaara."

Naruto frowned as he heard the Akatsuki member trying to egg him on more.

"Tenten, as I begin to use my jutsu, prepare some long range attacks to use from above this guy so we can force him to the ground. Naruto, when he's in range use your clones to get Gaara out of his bird and get him away from here. After that, this Deidara guy is all yours."

Nodding nodded resolutely as Kakashi lifted his forehead protector yet again.

"Give me a minute to prepare it, but I'll show you my new jutsu, Naruto!"

* * *

"What the hell?!" Deidara shouted.

The space around Deidara was being warped into a single point, trying to pull him through some kind of spatial tear. Deidara looked back at his pursuers with the visor covering his left eye. Kakashi was eyeing him with a Sharingan bearing a unique design.

'Dammit, a special Sharingan ability like Itachi's! I need to gain some altitude to get out of his range,' he thought as his right arm was pulled off due to Kakashi's spacetime ninjutsu.

Just as he began to ascend, a large scroll was thrown over his head and began to deluge Deidara with various ninja weapons.

 _Manipulated Tools: Heavenly Chain Disaster!_

"Shit!" Deidara shouted as he made his bird descend at an angle to avoid being impaled by the barrage of armaments. Before Deidara could react though, the Kyuubi Jinchūriki appeared behind him in midair at breakneck speed.

"Fuc-" was all he could say before the boy slammed his right fist into Deidara's face with tremendous force, sending him crashing into the forest floor and through several trees before coming to a stop. His clay bird crashed elsewhere, away from Deidara's landing site.

Naruto created a few clones which promptly retrieved the still-breathing Gaara and sped away with his unconscious body.

As the real Naruto neared Deidara, he transitioned from using his initial Jinchūriki state to using a single tail of the Nine-Tails's chakra.

The release of the powerful chakra caught Deidara's attention as he felt it near him. Approaching Naruto with his hand mouth munching on the clay in his waist pouch, Deidara looked at the enraged Jinchūriki unimpressed.

"You little shit, you took the Jinchūriki I captured from that pathetic Sand Village. Not only am I going to take you as recompense, I'll get the One-Tail back just to make your heroics here meaningless, hm."

Naruto ignored the taunts of his fellow blonde and merely increased the number for tails he had to 2. Kakashi was watching the scene hidden, his nervousness growing with the increase of the demonic chakra released. Jiraiya had given him paper seal to restrict it if necessary, though he strangely assured him it wouldn't be needed.

Naruto ran at Deidara again, but this time the explosion expert was prepared. Removing his hand from the pouch containing his clay, Deidara threw some clay containing his explosive chakra in front of the advancing Naruto.

 _C1!_

The clay had been shaped into various small animals such as spiders and birds, which exploded in front of Naruto, obscuring his vision from all the dirt blown into the air. The small explosions failed to damage Naruto at all due to the chakra cloak he was using. He could have avoided them, but he knew they were far too weak to be a threat.

When the dust cleared, Naruto saw that the Akatsuki member was now airborne on a large clay dragon about the size of a small house.

 _C2!_

'I knew C1 wouldn't damage him with that Tailed Beast chakra shielding him. However, the missiles from C2 should at least be able to do some damage. Let's see how much of my art he can take!'

* * *

Meanwhile back in the abandoned Akatsuki lair, Sasori was genuinely surprised and ecstatic at the challenge he received from his grandmother and the remaining Konoha-nin.

Chiyo's skill in puppetry was no surprise to him, as she had trained him herself, leading to his renown in the 3rd Great Shinobi War as "Sasori of the Red Sand" from his artful destruction of his opponents.

No, the skill of the shinobi of Konoha was shocking to him. The pink-haired medic had managed to destroy his 'Hiruko' puppet armor with her superhuman strength. Once he revealed his Human Puppet of the deceased Third Hokage, he expected the Third's Iron Sand to prove too much for a medic-nin, even one with super strength.

However, the Leaf medic proved surprisingly fast and agile. She had managed to defend against the Iron Sand of his Kage puppet using a combination of elemental jutsu. Water Release had been used to soak and slow down the speed of his iron projectiles. This allowed the Leaf kunoichi to defend against his jutsu with Earth Release walls.

The true threat was the Hyūga. The penetrative vision of his Byakugan made traps from Sasori's puppet easy to detect and his Gentle Fist techniques allowed him to defend his comrades in both close range and midrange capacities. This was particularly annoying as it prevented Sasori was landing sneak attacks on the 2 other taijutsu specialists who were at a disadvantage in this battle.

Having already revealed his status as a Human Puppet, Sasori only needed to protect his "core" in the chest of his puppet. Within this capsule was sealed his brain and nervous system, as well as his heart. The organs were kept in stasis, allowing him a form of immortality while retaining his ability to use chakra.

Smirking at his capable opponents, Sasori announced "For the good show you've all given me, I think I'll go all-out against you." Sasori removed one of the scrolls from his back to invoke his strongest puppet jutsu.

 _Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!_

From the scroll came a large number of puppets, each connected to Sasori's core via chakra threads. The sheer number of puppets should have been impossible, no puppet master could control more than one puppet per finger.

Seeing the need to meet Sasori with her own best puppetry, Chiyo pulled her own scroll from her travel pouch. "Your skill is immense Sasori, I'll grant you that. However, even you cannot hope to defeat the puppet team developed by the original puppeteer, Monzaemon Chikamatsu!"

 _White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!_

Sasori looked at his grandmother impressed. "Fascinating. I heard tale that you used that technique to lay siege to an entire castle singlehandedly. But my jutsu laid waste to an entire nation!"

* * *

Naruto was having trouble against his airborne opponent. While the man had kept him distracted with explosive clay missiles fired from the clay dragon he flew upon, he had snuck a Shadow Clone to the ground to hide explosive mines to the ground with his _Hiding Like a Mole Technique_. A fact Naruto discovered by stepping on one of the mines. It had been nearly 45 minutes since the fight had begun.

'Damn, how am I gonna get up to him? I've no idea where in the ground he placed all those bombs. I'm starting to think I shouldn't have told Kakashi-sensei to observe from the rear...'

Naruto considered whipping a special jutsu he had been practicing for almost a year now. 'But it's too soon to use it, I haven't gotten very good with it yet...' Suddenly, Naruto thought of an interesting way to escape the mess he was in.

 _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

After creating 20 clones, Naruto sent them out in random directions all around him to clear the area. He purposefully didn't spread his chakra cloak to the clones so that he could keep himself protected as the clones detonated all the mines in his vicinity.

'Now to get up there and kick that guy's ass!'

 _Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!_

Naruto's Earth technique raised the ground around upwards into the sky in the shape of an ascending square pillar.

Deidara avoided the approaching earth and stared at the blonde. 'That jutsu is an Iwagakure specialty. Where would a Konoha-nin like him have picked up something like that?'

As he drew level with the Akatsuki bomber, Naruto fired a huge fireball at him. Thanks to Nine-Tails's chakra, the fireball was far larger than usual which made evasion difficult.

While Deidara was distracted dodging a barrage of fireballs sent his way, he was nearly sliced by a Fuma Shuriken thrown into the path he used to avoid the Fire techniques.

As soon as he avoided the bladed weapon, he heard a poof of smoke indicating a Transformation Jutsu. Turning he saw the Jinchūriki cloaked in the red chakra take the shuriken's place right behind him.

"I've got you now you bastard!" Naruto shouted. He brought his chakra-cloaked arms above him and enlarged them to huge proportions. Then he brought them clasped together and clocked Deidara in the head, sending him straight through his own clay dragon and down into the ground.

Naruto angled the blow so that Deidara would land in an area he hadn't cleared of mines yet. There were several satisfying 'Booms' when the terrorist impacted the ground.

Naruto landed on the ground in front of where Deidara impacted the ground and waited for the smoke from the explosions to clear. When it did, he glared at the bastard that nearly killed his friend. "Any last words?"

The injured blond was stuck in the ground, yet he began to laugh at the presumptuous Jinchūriki who stood over him.

"Just 4. Art is a boom!" he shouted before chewing the explosive clay in his mouth.

The Deidara in front of Naruto began to expand like a balloon, surprising Naruto. Before he was caught up in the attack, Naruto leapt back a few dozen yards to avoid following explosion.

 _Suicide Bombing Clone!_

The clone detonated, setting off the remaining clay mines in the area as well. As the smoke cleared, Naruto saw Deidara escaping into the skies atop another clay dragon.

Kakashi walked up from behind Naruto and patted him on the shoulder. "He got away. You know, it's a bit funny to see you of all people fall for a deception using a Shadow Clone," he said in a cheery voice.

Naruto hung his head. "I nearly had him sensei! Doesn't that count for anything?"

Kakashi scratched his chin in thought. "I suppose I could buy you some ramen from Ichiraku's. After all, it's not everyday you save a Kage's life. That opponent was powerful, you did well to best him."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. It was rare for Kakashi to praise others without reservation, much less pay for someone else's meal. Naruto was still unsure he could believe his sensei about the ramen though...

"By the way Naruto, is it safe for you to still have that chakra out? I was under the impression that you couldn't control it." The question of how Naruto had retained his sense of self while cloaked in the chakra of the Kyuubi had bugged Kakashi as he watched the fight.

Before Naruto could answer, the group who had been fighting Sasori rushed into the area of the forest they were in. Neji's Byakugan allowed the group to locate them, and had alerted them that Naruto was coated in the Fox's chakra.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted when she saw him. The chakra before her was terrifying, and gave her flashbacks of the memory she saw months earlier.

"Are you OK, Sakura-chan?" he asked worriedly. Her clothing was cut in several places, and she seemed to be on the mend. 'Must have been a tough battle', he thought.

"I'm fine thanks to Lady Chiyo here. She really saved my behind back there. But enough about me, are you OK? Is it safe to be using that chakra? Won't the Fox try to take you over again?" Sakura knew she sounded a bit overbearing, but she couldn't help it. The thought of her friend being controlled by an ancient evil was unsettling to say the least.

Naruto could tell Sakura was really scared on his behalf, so he attempted to allay her fears.

"No need to worry. Kyuubi hasn't tried to take over me in quite awhile, hehe." Although he laughed, the discussion was a bit awkward to have. How was he supposed to explain that he had been trying to make peace with a demon of all things? That sounded like a one-way ticket to the loony bin.

Kakashi could tell Naruto wasn't comfortable discussing all of this right now, what with Gaara still being hurt so he interrupted, "Perhaps this should be tabled for now. After all, Naruto was able to take Gaara back from that Explosion Release user."

"Excellent work, Naruto-kun! You really are worthy of becoming my eternal rival!" Lee announced, followed by his trademark thumb-up and sparkling smile.

"Oh, right, thaaaaaanks Bushy Brows…"

"That's not all, Naruto. Sasori gave Sakura some… interesting information," Neji said.

Sakura nodded her head. "Before he died, he told us that he had a spy who infiltrated the higher ranks of Orochimaru's organization. He was planning on meeting with his spy in a few weeks."

Naruto was both excited and a bit distraught. This spy could lead them closer to finding Sasuke, allowing Naruto to fulfill his promise to Sakura. But at the same time, he couldn't help but remember Sasuke's betrayal and attempted murder of him.

'Do I really want to bring that guy back after all he did?' he thought bitterly.

Despite his inner turmoil, Naruto said "That's great! We might be able to find out where Sasuke is."

Although he was trying to mask it, he was certain Sakura could sense his trepidation as her eyebrows furrowed a bit at his statement.

* * *

As the group made their way back to Suna, the Konoha teams ran into a large contingent of Suna reinforcements. Upon spotting Naruto holding their unmoving Kage, the fears of 2 in particular skyrocketed.

"Gaara!" Temari shouted.

"Bro!" yelled Kankuro.

As the Sand Siblings got to him, Temari asked, "Is he..."

Naruto shook his head. "No, we got to him in time. They weren't able to completely remove his Tailed Beast. They did get most of it's chakra though. Lady Chiyo said he'd be in and out for a few days as the beast recovered."

Temari and Kankuro began to cry that their brother had survived, and the surrounding Suna-nin began to cheer at the good news. "Naruto, we can't begin to repay what we owe you," Kankuro said through his tears.

Naruto waved his hands side-to-side. "Woah, no need for that. He was my friend, I didn't do to win anything."

"Still, you've all earned at least a nice Suna feast and hospitality. I'm sure Gaara would agree if he were awake," Temari said.

 **(A Few Days Later)**

As the crew from Konoha were saying goodbyes to the people of Suna, Gaara approached his fellow host at the village gate.

"I guess this is the part where we shake hands and agree to meet each other again, but I'm not very good at this kind of thing," Naruto said with a flushed face. Sand enveloped his right hand and pulled it into Gaara's outstretched hand.

"Now see, that wasn't too hard now was it?" Gaara said teasingly.

"Jerk. Who was it that saved your ass back there?" he responded tongue-in-cheek.

Before he left, Naruto stepped closer to whisper to Gaara. "Listen man, take this." He pushed a small wrapped object into Gaara's hands.

"What is this?" he responded in his quiet monotone voice.

"Shh, don't ask. And don't unwrap it for the time being and just keep it in your ninja tools pouch. Let's just say that when the time comes, this can help protect you if you get into another scrape."

Gaara raised an eyebrow. "Awfully cryptic, aren't you?"

"Well, I'm not ready to bust this out yet and it would be a bad idea for word to get out before I am. Let's just keep it a surprise for now, shall we?"

Gaara sighed. "Fine, but you have to answer something first."

"Um, OK? What?"

Gaara gave Naruto what he assumed was a smirk ('he must not be used to that expression yet…'). "Have you asked Sakura out yet? You two seemed awfully chummy the last few days."

Naruto's face turned a bright red before he shouted, "Mind your own damn business pal!" He then ran off ahead of his fellow Konoha-nin as tears streamed down his face comically.

* * *

 **(A/N):** Phew, that was a long ass chapter. Future chapters won't be quite as long (probably between 5k-6k words); sorry if this was tiring to read. This is what I get for trying to do a whole arc in one chapter (even if that arc was short). Let me know what you all thought in the reviews, even if you don't have an account. It's nice to see feedback, whether positive or constructive! I'm aware there was some skipping around in this chapter, but dammit I couldn't bring myself to write about everything that happened. xD

I wanted to use this chapter to set up a few things down the line. I can't wait to see your speculation and thoughts on what these things are. It was also a useful opportunity to showcase what this version of Naruto can do in a battle when he doesn't hold back. I bet the Kyuubi bit surprised you. Don't worry, Naruto is NOT on the verge of getting Kyuubi Chakra Mode anytime soon. But to me, doing this way felt a bit truer to Naruto's character in Part 1. Sure, Naruto wouldn't be very open to Kurama given it attacked Konoha. But hell, that was true of Gaara as well, and Gaara nearly killed Sakura yet Naruto was able to forgive him. In hindsight, I thought it was odd canon Naruto waited so long to try and befriend Kurama. Did he never try during his training trip with Jiraiya? Well, in this fic he did try and the results were, well, YOU'LL SEE NEXT CHAPTER. Hehe. ;-)

I decided to keep Gaara with Shukaku and thus ave Chiyo as well. There were no grandiose reasons why I did this. At the very least, it keeps Suna as a major power among the 5 Great Nations since they still have their Jinchuriki.

That said, sorry there wasn't much in the way of NaruSaku this chapter. The next few chapters will have more moments centering on this, so don't worry. There *might* be a slight delay in release after the next couple of chapters as I might be getting a new job, which would put my schedule in disarray for a little while as I get acclimated.

Also if you like Sai (bless your heart) you will probably not like the next chapter, lol. **Favorite, Follow, Review!** ~


	4. Chapter 4: Quiet Before the Storm

**(A/N):** Responding to some reviews:

 **MacZonda:** Currently, Naruto and Sakura (individually) are basically on par with Kakashi in a straight fight until he whips out his MS, in which case Kakashi is above them. I suppose Kakashi's Genjutsu prowess would also probably beat Naruto, or maybe I'll have Kakashi specifically train in Genjutsu soon. It was an asspull in the canon when he somehow fought Obito's Genjutsu (learned from Madara) to a standstill. Prior, Kakashi had literally only shown a D-rank Genjutsu technique, although his Genjutsu skill was rated at 4½ out of 5 in the databooks at that point. Anyway, main difference between them is experience and versatility. Kakashi is almost twice their age and knows over 1000 techniques so he's trouble for anyone.

 **SaiyanWarrior200:** Good point, I'll probably just ignore such reviews in the future. To future reviewers: Please at least specify what problems you have in your reviews when critiquing. If you just tell me "It's cliche!" and you don't tell me what exactly is cliche… well, there's no way I can change anything to improve it in the future with that kind of empty criticism! And to those who criticized the fight scene in Ch 2, thanks. I updated it based on your responses so there you go, constructive criticism helps!

 **Hennessyswagg83:** I really don't know what to say. Other than Hinata, there were no other females (his age) Naruto spoke to in the series, much less any who were interested in him. NaruSaku is not a perfect ship, but then I'm not trying to write a perfect story (whatever that even means). It's just the ship that made the most sense to me given how Part 1 (and most of Part 2) of the series actually portrayed Naruto and who he liked, and their personalities mesh together better than NaruHina or SasuSaku. As for forgiveness, well come on, it's indisputable that Naruto is very forgiving by nature (too much, I'd say). In the fic, he left for a few years to rediscover himself and what he wanted so that he could get over the past and move on with his life. That's why he's not making a stink about how she used to hit him, I suppose.

 **Syn Arcane:** Don't worry, the other arcs are not gonna be done this way. I just didn't find this arc very important in the overall plot, so I admit I was probably a bit lazy and hasty to get passed it. The next chapter is where the Shippuden part of the story always began for me.

 **Shynemon:** You went through a lot of stuff, so bear with me.

"Delusion for Naruto"? Not sure what that's supposed to imply but OK dude. I'm just writing the story as I wish it had been done.

This is not going to be a happily ever after for everyone, as (I think) will start to become apparent in this next arc. That's mostly what we got with Shippuden (half-assed and rushed though it was), save for the random Boruto nonsense. Everyone was paired off and most antagonists Talk-no-Jutsu'ed.

You criticize me for keeping Gaara from dying and proceed to call me a hypocrite, but think about this man. Naruto Part 2 gave us fake drama in this instance. Naruto failed to save Gaara, who died, only to have a character who we were just introduced to (Chiyo) exchange her life for his. So basically nothing really happened except a new character no one had any attachment to died and Gaara came back. It was basically Dragon Ball: death didn't matter so it might as well have been a joke. Not to mention it made Suna less credible as a world power if they lost their Tailed Beast and one of their strongest shinobi (Chiyo). So I just decided to cut that out because it served no purpose until like 300+ chapters later, at which point we were basically told Gaara was still just as strong as when he had Shukaku… -_- Again, it's all just pretend drama and made supposedly important events feel like a joke.

Akatuski are well above most Jonin (Kakashi and Darui are near them, later exceeding them), but Naruto didn't win easy, he had to use Kyuubi chakra to win here. Naruto is on par with Kakashi so it would be ridiculous if he didn't perform well against them.

Answer me this: If I intended to write a story just so that Naruto was OP (which is nearly inevitable in this kind of series), how would that make me a hypocrite? I didn't criticize Naruto Shippuden for making Naruto too OP (although he was too OP) and used that as my motivation to write this. I criticized the story and character interactions for betraying the themes and messages of Part 1 of Naruto. Destiny _did_ decide everything. People claimed to have always loved someone they barely spoke to or else knew very little about personally. There was little real teamwork because it came down to who can individually blow up a mountain, and so on. Mind you, I've no doubt this story has, and will continue to have, problems (which I will try to address if I agree). But hypocrisy is not one of them, so far as I can tell. Also I have no more space to write in the summary so I can't please you here.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

As for what Naruto gave Gaara, that's undecided right now. I've 2 or 3 ideas as to what that should be, but it's not set in stone. If it ends up being what you thought, well tough, lol. I can't please everyone so I'm not going to stress about deciding on this right now.

ANYWAY, that's more than enough preamble; sorry about that!

Key:

 _Jutsu!_

' _Inner Dialogue_ '

"Dialogue"

* * *

 **(1 week later)**

"Aw, Naruto-niichan, do you really have to go?" said a boy who was painting on the ground.

"Sorry Konohamaru, I've got somewhere I need to be. Hit me up tomorrow afternoon if you want to train some more," Naruto said regrettably.

Konohamaru sighed deeply before nodding his head. "You better believe I'll be wanting to learn that invisibility technique, hehe." He began to grin with a mischievous look on his face.

Naruto tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hm, with such ill intent I'm not sure you're responsible enough to get this jutsu just yet."

The young Genin began waving his arms back and forth. "It was a joke boss, I swear! I won't misuse what you teach me!" He tried to give Naruto a salute, but it was rushed and looked pretty sloppy.

Naruto snickered a bit at the boy's antics. "Hm, we'll see then. Later Konohamaru~" he said with a wave.

On the outskirts of Konoha, Naruto approached the orphanage he spent his early years in. After signing in as a visitor, Naruto proceeded out back to the play area behind the orphanage where the children spent much of their time.

Soon after entering the Shinobi Academy, Naruto was no longer allowed to stay at the orphanage, as the village was willing to pay for his housing. Even though he wasn't living there anymore, Naruto had made sure to visit his fellow orphans as often as he could. Even if they weren't family, Naruto knew it helped a little to know someone out there was thinking about you, hoping you were OK. And as the orphans had no parents to tell them to hate him, it was harder to make them hate someone in the same boat.

Once he learned how to make Shadow Clones, the younger kids enjoyed playing games like finding the real Naruto after he and his clones would hide around the orphanage. They seemed to enjoy watching all the Narutos burst into smoke when they found the clones.

"Oi look, Naruto's back!" called out one of the boys.

"It really is him!" shouted a young brunette.

"I did not see that coming," was said dully by a boy with an equally dull expression.

Naruto began to laugh loudly at their reaction. "Good to see someone was glad to see me again. How's it been guys? Kana, you're not still giving Takuma a hard time about his nose are you?"

The young boy in question blushed as he tried to hide his nose from sight. "Naruto, why'd you have to bring that up?" Takuma asked.

Kana giggled and replied "No I stopped, just like you asked… eventually."

"Well Naruto-kun, I can see you're getting right back into the swing of things. You remind me a lot of Nonō whenever you visit the kids," said an approaching figure behind him.

Naruto turned and smiled, having recognized the voice. "Urushi, long time no see!" He shook the Chunin's hand in greeting. The two walked a little ways off from the kids to catch up.

"Indeed, I heard you got back in town last week. I've been hearing a lot about your last mission around the village, Mr. Hero," he said in jest, lightly elbowing Naruto in the rib.

"Cut that out, it was just a job…" Naruto said embarrassedly.

Urushi snorted. "You saved a Kage man, no one can say you aren't deserving of being called that."

Naruto wore a skeptical look and shrugged. "You say that, but the most of the village hasn't budged an inch since I came back."

Urushi frowned and said "I'm sure they'll come around… eventually. They can't just ignore this like with what you did in the Suna invasion."

"Urushi, it's fine. While I was gone, I realized I can't keep seeking validation from people like them. If they want to hate me for existing that's their problem. I want them to change but there are more important things for me to fight for than their approval."

Urushi still felt guilty for his own past actions (and inaction) regarding Naruto. With a sullen tone, he said, "Look, Naruto, I've been meaning to say I'm sorry fo-"

Naruto cut him off. "Urushi, just stop. I know why stopped sticking up for me."

"Y-you do?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out. After you stopped trying to convince families to adopt me, more kids started getting adopted."

Urushi couldn't meet Naruto's eyes, causing Naruto to snap. "Just stop pitying me! Yea it hurt like hell when you started blowing me off like the rest of them, but I got over it. I knew you couldn't only focus on finding someone who could love me like their own, there were a lot of orphans after the Nine-Tails attack. I was pissed off and alone, but even I wouldn't want you to indulge my selfishness over all those other kids finding homes."

Urushi remembered all the families who would storm out of the orphanage when he would mention that the blonde boy was in need of a supportive family to take him in. It was not uncommon for Naruto to hear to choice words the would-be parents had for Urushi's suggestion on their way out.

Naruto sighed and began to walk back towards the playground. He turned his head and said "I'm not mad at you anymore so let's move passed this, OK?"

Urushi nodded and smiled a little. "For what it's worth Naruto, I really do think you're a hero."

Naruto shook a fist at him and said "Don't try to butter me up now, Urushi! You owe me at least 10 bowls of ramen before I'll consider us even!"

* * *

 **(Few hours laters, evening)**

As Naruto proceeded away from the orphanage, he wondered what to make of the 2nd presence he detected following him a distance throughout the day. The first had been following him since he got back to the village, while the 2nd only started that very day.

' _Hm, if these guys don't buzz off soon I'm gonna get annoyed..._ '

As Naruto walked away from the orphanage back through the village proper, the usual stares and glares greeted him from much of the populace. However, to his surprise there was the occasional well-wisher and smile sent his way. Some of the girls seemed to blush when they saw him as well.

' _Well that's new…_ '

Then the gruff voice of an middle-aged man called out, "So the prodigal demon returns. We were better off when you left the village, so do us a favor and get out."

Naruto turned and looked at the man with an expressionless face, saying nothing in response.

"What's the matter, _Fox_ got your tongue?" the man said in a provoking tone of voice.

Naruto busted out laughing and pointed at the shocked man. "Hahaha, I get it! Cause, ya know," he gestured at his stomach, "my furry friend here! Wanna meet them?"

"N-now wait just a minut-"

The man's eyes widened as Naruto weaved a hand sign. After the smoke cleared, nothing seemed different until one looked at Naruto's head and rear. He used the Transformation Technique to give himself fox ears and a fox tail.

"Rawr, I've returned to the Leaf to finish what I started. No ramen bowl is safe from my wrath~" Naruto said to the stunned man in a squeaky voice, and with his hands outstretched like claws.

The man looked incensed at Naruto's trickery. "You dare to mock me you little freak?"

Naruto dispelled the _henge_ and laughed again as he made to walk away. The man moved to accost Naruto when a certain other blonde got in his way.

"How dare you. He is member of the Leaf's ninja corps, he deserves your respect."

Naruto turned and saw Ino Yamanaka giving the man a piece of her mind. "Naruto hasn't done anything to wrong you, this is crazy."

"Young lady, you're too young to know why this boy's unnaturalness is a curse on the village."

Ino frowned at the man and said "I know exactly what you're talking about. Can you really not tell the difference between a scroll and the kunai sealed inside it?"

The man looked like he wouldn't give an inch so Naruto tapped one of Ino's shoulders. "Ino, you don't have to do this. He's too stubborn to change his mind."

Ino looked at him with uncertainty as he began to walk off.

"Wait up Naruto!"

Ino caught with him and walked with him down the road.

"How've you been since you got back, Naruto?" Ino asked. She was trying be amicable with Naruto, but she was getting distracted by the good looks of her fellow blonde. He had grown out his hair some, and his outfit was a definite improvement over the bright orange of years gone by. His broad chest and bulkier arms were hard to miss as well.

"Ino?" Naruto questioned.

"Huh?" Ino replied flustered.

"I was saying I've been pretty good. I was just hanging out with the kids at the orphanage. It gets pretty lonely there."

Ino nodded. She remembered that Naruto was an orphan himself. She never really thought about it when they were younger.

"Anything planned for later?" she asked.

"I think I'm going to head off to the Hokage Monument to meditate. It's… quieter up there."

Realizing he must have been more affected by the earlier altercation than he let on, Ino responded, "I'm sorry that jerk was giving you a hard time. I hope you know we're not all like that."

Naruto turned his head toward Ino with a smile and said "I know, and thanks. Sakura-chan was saying something similar the other day. Hm, this might be a little sudden, but would you like to be friends?"

Ino thought Naruto was about to go somewhere else before he finished that sentence. When he finished she began to giggle, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh it's nothing, it just sounded like you were going to ask something else, hehe. But of course we can be friends you doof."

Naruto rubbed his head in embarrassment. "I knew that would come out weird, hehe. Anyway Ino, I'll catch ya later," he said with a wave.

After bidding him farewell, Ino walked back toward the Yamanaka flower shop she worked at on occasion. When she walked in, she ran her pink-haired friend who had apparently been waiting for her.

"Oh there you are Ino, your mom said you stepped out for some reason."

Ino sighed and said "Yea some guy was yelling at Naruto and no one else would defend him. I would've decked the guy but Naruto decided to walk away. He's so different than I remember."

From the pink tinge on Ino's cheeks, Sakura could guess what "changes" Ino had in mind.

Ignoring her inner self, Sakura was saddened that things hadn't really changed for him despite their successful mission.

Looking at Ino with a worried expression, Sakura asked "Is Naruto OK?"

"I could tell he was trying to hide it, but he wasn't unphased by it. He said he was going up to the Hokage Monument to meditate for now."

"Hm, I'm going to see him, we have to leave for our mission tomorrow. I'll catch you later Ino!"

As Sakura hurried out of the Yamanaka flower shop, Ino tilted her head at her friend's behavior.

* * *

As the sun had just set, the nighttime view of Konoha was a sight to see from atop the Hokage Monument. The array of lights from shops, restaurants, bars, homes, streetlamps and the like dotted the landscape of the village.

However, the lone figure atop the monument at this hour payed the view no mind as his eyes were closed as he sat with his legs crossed on the ground, having taken up a meditative pose sometime earlier.

Naruto was within his mindscape, having entered the seal his father placed on it. During his trip with Jiraiya, it had become common for him to enter the sewer-like area that represented the seal holding the Kyuubi and to talk to it about the things on his mind at the time. These were up pretty one-sided conversations.

"...and then I decided to pretend I was summoning you out to give the guy a scare for being so annoying. You should have seen his face when I sprouted fox ears and a tail Kyu-chan, hehe," Naruto said.

The blonde was leaned against the cage behind which lay the Nine-Tails, which kept its eyes closed to try and ignore its host. But the story the boy told was downright insulting to it.

"YOU DID WHAT? My reputation should be used to instill fear and awe, not for some shitty prank you brat! And don't call me that ridiculous name, it's insulting," the demon fox roared.

Naruto shrugged. "Hm, if you told me your real name I'd call you that. But you keep holding out on me!" Naruto turned and scrunched his face at the enormous being in annoyance.

"My name is precious to me, I don't go giving out willy-nilly."

"Come oooon, tell me. I won't tell anyone." Naruto did his most innocent expression, hoping to warm the beast's heart.

Kyuubi ignored him and became silent once again.

"Fine, I'll be back later Kyu-chan. Don't forget, I'm not giving up until you and I are friends!" he declared as he pointed at the beast.

Naruto opened his eyes back in the real world and surveyed the village. Naruto was positioned behind the stone carving of his late father, Minato Namikaze. His location and lack of company spurred him to speak his mind aloud, hoping the man could hear him somehow.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're watching me dad, and what you'd think of me. Did you love me? Are you proud of me? Do you hate me for killing mom? How would my life have been if you 2 didn't die?"

After exhaling deeply he continued, remembering what happened as he walked through the village. "Sometimes it's hard to remember what I'm fighting for. I know it's dumb, but I'd almost hoped that they'd magically be OK with me once I came back. That maybe overtime I had won them over and they just hadn't shown it yet…"

Naruto leaned back on his hands and looked up at the starry sky for a few moments. "I'm probably being silly. It's not as bad as it used to be. At least nowadays I know I have people I count on."

A certain pink-haired kunoichi came to mind, causing him to blush slightly. "You know dad, there's this girl on my team and-"

"Naruto, Are you up here?" called out the girl in question.

Naruto chuckled. "Did you do that dad? Not cool, ya know."

Standing up, Naruto walked toward where he heard Sakura's voice.

When Sakura saw him, she sighed in relief that he seemed fine. "Hey, I heard from Ino what happened earlier. You OK?"

"Yea I'm good, I just like to come here to think from time to time."

Sakura smirked. "You, thinking? Who are you and what have you done with the real Naruto?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I have my moments."

Sakura laughed quietly before saying "Well alright, but you should get some sleep. We leave for the Land of Grass tomorrow."

"Yea yea, I'm going. I'll walk you home first."

"You know I can take care of myself…"

Naruto waved her off. "Well duh. I just thought I'd hang out with you a bit before we have to get into thick of things on a mission. No telling who Tsunade-sama will pick to join the team. They better not be annoying…" he said with a scrunched face.

Sakura sighed. "Fine, but you better not try anything. Who knows what else Jiraiya-sama taught you over the years."

Naruto's shoulders dropped. "Come on Sakura-chan, I'm not like that super pervert…"

The pink-haired shinobi stretched her hands in the air above her as she walked away. "Well that remains to be seen. Let's go~"

The two made their way to Sakura's house with slight smiles on their faces.

* * *

A pale-faced boy made his way to a secret bunker beneath Konoha, and soon came upon his master.

"Danzo-sama, I'm reporting in from my assignment," the boy said emotionlessly.

"The behavior of the target?" returned the bandaged elder.

"The Uzumaki spent the morning training himself, and later in the afternoon did the same with the young Sarutobi boy. For lunch, he stopped by the Ichiraku ramen stand. As evening drew near, he visited the orphanage to play with the children there, during which he had a heated discussion with one of the caretakers. However, I could not risk getting closer to determine what was said." Sai ran through his day's observations efficiently. "Afterwards he was yelled at by one of the civilians, and then proceeded to meditate atop the Hokage Monument until nightfall."

"However I noticed an oddity throughout my observations."

Danzo narrow his visible eye. "That being what?"

"There's was another individual who appeared to be tailing the Uzumaki throughout the day, just as I was. Their identity is unknown to me, but I was able to briefly catch sight of them a couple of times."

Danzo rubbed his chin for a moment before chuckling. "Ah yes, of course. That person is of no concern to you."

"Of course."

Danzo nodded at the information he received. Focusing on the Root agent again, Danzo said "The young Uzumaki will soon be sent on a mission involving Orochimaru's organization. Foolish though it is to send him when the Akatsuki are on the move, this mission does present an opportunity."

Danzo handed the pale boy a manilla envelope containing information Orochimaru would find desirable to obtain. "If the opportunity presents itself, use these documents as a means to gain an audience with Orochimaru. If you identify yourself as my emissary, that will get your foot in the door. That is when your true mission will begin."

Danzo closed his lone visible eye for a moment before continuing. "Eliminate Sasuke Uchiha. He poses a threat to the continued existence of the Leaf Village."

Producing a fake smile in imitation of what was shown the books he read, Sai responded "Affirmative, Danzo-sama."

"Also, there's no need to test the boy's skills by attacking him tomorrow. I've already acquired information on that front. No need to draw further suspicion on yourself. Given it was my recommendation that you be their 4th member, Tsunade will already be on the lookout for unexpected behavior from you. Your codename shall be 'Sai'."

"Understood."

As his young Root ANBU left, Danzo returned to Tsunade's evaluation of Naruto's abilities from his training exercise and from Kakashi's mission report. After reading the 2 documents he became contemplative.

' _So the Jinchūriki is already this skilled… It's too bad he has been corrupted by Hiruzen's foolish idealism. He would make a powerful asset for Root.'_

The Leaf elder turned towards a tank where a certain person was floating in a rare liquid, having been placed in suspended animation.

' _But then again, we already have a weapon. And once the time comes we will deploy it to protect Konoha from our enemies. With the ultimate Genjutsu of Shisui's eye and Orochimaru's help, my will be be shared by this weapon!'_

* * *

 **(Several Days Later)**

"Hold," Kakashi called out to his team. As the 3 teenagers slowed to a stop and looked at him, he said "I think we should camp here for the night. We'll be arriving at Tenchi Bridge tomorrow morning at the stated meeting time. We need to rest so we're in top shape for whatever happens when we meet Sasori's spy."

As the group made camp for the night, Sakura thought 'Finally some rest…'

As she looked around, Sakura spotted the pale boy named Sai. He wasn't very talkative, and when he did speak he had a tendency to insult you for no apparent reason. She had tried to conversation with him the other day when she spotted him drawing during one of their breaks, but he dismissed her. And then there were those creepy smiles he gave…

'This new guy is a weirdo…'

"Hey dickless, try to keep it down tonight. Your snoring will give away our position to enemy nin."

Naruto glared at Sai. "If you had been paying attention, you'd have noticed I place sound suppression seals around our campsites at night. No one can hear us."

Before the 2 bickered any further, Kakashi said "That's enough. It's light out boys."

"Hmph," responded the blonde as he went to lay in his sleeping bag.

As the blonde and pinkette were falling asleep, each were nervous about what might occur the following morning.

…

"OK team, my clone has confirmed the target is on Tenchi Bridge. Their face is obscured by the hood of their cloak, but they appear to be a young adult male. Get into position and await my signal."

The three nodded in response as Kakashi approached the cloaked figure after applying the Transformation Technique to look like Sasori in his large puppet 'Hiruko'. Team 7 hid in some foliage a few dozen meters behind the bridge.

The clone turned it's head to talk to 'Sasori'. When the 3 original members of Team 7 saw the spy's face, they were shocked.

"Kabuto?!" Sakura said.

"I don't see this going according to plan," Naruto said seriously.

Kabuto jumped next to the henged Kakashi's due to the unexpected person who appeared on the bridge suddenly.

'Shit, it's Orochimaru himself. This was a setup,' Kakashi thought. 'Naruto, Sakura, I know you two had high hopes for this mission but we should pull back. This has gone far beyond what we anticipated.'

Before Kakashi could think of a way to escape, Kabuto swung a hand coated in a _Chakra Scalpel_ at him. Kakashi managed to get back to avoid a serious injury, but the chakra blade cut his arm a little.

Rather than let the Transformation dispel like normal, Kakashi chose to reappear as Sasori's final puppet body. He had studied Sakura's battle with Sasori via the memory scroll taken of those who were present in their downtime between missions.

"Orochimaru-sama, is this what Sasori's true body looks like?"

Orochimaru seemed amused. "Indeed it is. However, this is clearly not Sasori."

Kabuto sounded confused as he asked, "In don't understand. How could anyone else know what Sasori looks like?"

"He guards himself with his puppet armor 'Hiruko', not with a henge. Sasori must be dead then. It's a shame, I would have enjoyed finally killing him myself."

Seeing that the jig was up, Kakashi dispelled his Transformation.

"Ah young Kakashi. Figures you'd be involved in this. Now why don't you call out those mice behind you."

Giving them the signal, Naruto, Sai and Sakura appeared behind Kakashi in a flash.

As he appeared on the bridge, Naruto was already in his initial Jinchūriki state, bearing the red slitted eyes of the demon fox.

"Kukuku… a couple of familiar faces. The useless girl was brought along again, and - oh my - the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. I wonder if you're a match for Sasuke yet?" Orochimaru's taunted.

Though he knew better than to let him get riled up, Naruto was visibly growing angrier.

"It seems you're the same as before, Naruto," Kabuto sneered.

Naruto began to expel a huge amount of Kyuubi chakra, immediately taking entering the 2-Tailed state.

"Or perhaps he has, Kabuto. I see you've grown as a Jinchūriki, boy. But I doubt your a match for my Sasuke, kukuku."

Before Naruto got any angrier, Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, calm down! This bastard is just trying to make you attack him in blind rage."

Naruto looked at Sakura with a conflicted expression. On one hand, he didn't want to worry her. But on the other, he really wanted to tear this snake asshole apart.

Grasping Naruto's shirt, Sakura continued. "Please Naruto. You don't need the Nine-Tails's power to fight these guys. You say it's not a problem anymore, but I can't help but be afraid of what the Fox might try…"

"Sakura…"

"Put your trust in me instead. We can take them down together!" she said as she tightened her gloves.

Naruto closed his eyes and the twin chakra tails faded away. "Let's do it, Sakura-chan!"

Kabuto began to laugh. "Really now? Do you 2 really believe you'll be a match for Lord Orochimaru and I?"

Sakura pointed at Kabuto and said " _You_ won't be a problem!"

Before the Oto-nin could reply, he experienced a bout of vertigo which nearly caused him to get hit by the blonde Jinchūriki when he appeared in front of him at high speed.

Kabuto ducked the boy's punch, but this left him open to the pinkette's attack from behind.

"Gah!" Kabuto shouted as Sakura slammed her fist into his back. The traitors was sent flying into the forest and crashed through multiple trees.

Orochimaru began to laugh again. "Well well, no need to tell me who trained you, girl. But if you think brute strength will be enough to win here, you're a fool."

Sakura turned to the Sannin and said "Good thing I have a bit more than a strong arm then."

"I will admit, that Genjutsu you hit Kabuto with was was a nice touch, it gave you 2 an opening. I haven't seen someone cast Genjutsu by just pointing at someone since Itachi, though I doubt you can match the power of his illusions."

Naruto said confidently, "She doesn't need to, we'll take you down like Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sama did. Naruto then stepped up next to Sakura. "Kakashi-sensei, you and Sai take care of Kabuto. Sakura-chan's attack hurt him but I know he has a jutsu that can heal such injuries quickly."

Kakashi wasn't sure how to respond. He knew his 2 students had shown they could keep up with S-rank shinobi. But Orochimaru was particularly knowledgeable of various jutsu and styles from all across the Elemental Nations. The Sannin had even killed the Fourth Kazekage and an aged 3rd Hokage.

"Don't worry sensei. Lady Tsunade told me the Third did something to his arms, so he doesn't have his full range of techniques. Even if he's jumped bodies, I'm betting he can only use jutsu he's mastered enough to use without hand signs," Sakura said.

"Hm, let's see if that confidence is justified. At the very least, try to keep me entertained before I return to inform Sasuke of the demise of his _former_ teammates," Orochimaru said after licking his lips.

"Hey snakey, I've been meaning return this to you," Naruto said with a smirk.

Orochimaru eyed the Jinchūriki when he went through several hand signs at high speed.

 _Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake_

 _Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!_

Naruto released a massive squall at Orochimaru as he blew air out from his mouth. Due to its size, the Sannin couldn't avoid it and was blown through the forest along with the numerous trees the Wind jutsu uprooted.

Sakura blinked at the scale of the attack. Something about it seemed familiar.

Naruto rubbed his nose with his index finger. "Hehe, I know that hurt from personal experience. He hit me with that attack back in the Second Stage of the Chunin Exams, remember?"

Sakura hit her fist on the palm of her other hand. "I knew that looked familiar. The attack range is huge."

"Yea it's my strongest Wind jutsu at the moment. I don't have any Wind techniques that do direct damage yet; I haven't had time to master the element so that's why I rely on Earth & Fire since Jiraiya-sensei helped me master them."

"I see. Well, we probably shouldn't give him too much of a breather, don't'cha think?"

Naruto nodded seriously. "Let's kick this guy's ass until he tells us where Sasuke is!" At that, the 2 sped off down the path of destruction Naruto's technique carved out on the other side of the bridge.

Kakashi had been silently listening to those guys discuss beating up a Sannin, with beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

' _They make it sound so easy. I'd like to give them a hand, but…'_

"While Lord Orochimaru has his fun, I hope you 2 can at least provide me with some entertainment," called out a voice behind Kakashi.

Turning to its source, Kakashi responded, "Well Kabuto, you are listed on the BINGO Book so I doubt you will enjoy this as much as you think," Kakashi said. "You ready Sai?"

Just as he said that, Sai ran off after Naruto and Sakura, ignoring Kakashi's calls after him.

"And then there was one. But I'm not too disappointed Kakashi. I've wanted a match with you for sometime now. Let's go!"

The white and silver-haired men raced at each other to begin their own fight. Sai, however, began to prepare to fulfill his own mission objectives.

' _I just need to wait for Orochimaru to kill those 2 so that I can approach him unopposed…'_

The Root ANBU agent drew a large bird on his scroll and then brought it to life with his jutsu, and flew off to observe the fight until the opportune moment.

* * *

 **(A/N):** Hey, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I wasn't too sure about the quality myself, but let me know your thoughts in the reviews. Also try to guess who Danzo was referring to. I won't confirm who that is for quite a while, but it should be entertaining to see who you think, want or expect that person to be. ;-)

This chapter was split in half so it wasn't so long and so I didn't blow through events too quickly. I had it so Naruto grew up in the orphanage until he was in the ninja Academy. Urushi is that guy from canon who felt like Kabuto was his brother. Well, Kabuto is not getting off the hook for being an insane murderer. That was honestly more baffling to me than any of the ridiculous shipping. Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sasuke; no real jail time because they helped to save the world. Not to mention how after chapter 1 of Naruto, we're never shown the village changing their mind about Naruto. All we got was a pretty generic flashback in the tankoban version of one of the manga chapters when Naruto comes back from beating Nagato. It made it seem like the villagers were randomly OK with Naruto and kind of jarring when they all love him after the Nagato fight.

I'll upload the next chapter in a day or 2. Naruto and Sakura vs Orochimaru. Not to mention, the first appearance of Sasuke in this fic. I admit, some Sasuke fanboys will say I'm bashing him down the line, but ignoring them, honestly I'm going to try to avoid doing that directly. Sasuke was written really badly in Part 2. In part 1 he was an arrogant, annoying jerk, but at least some of it you could say was caused by Itachi butchering his family and all his relatives in front of him. But then he becomes a murderer who would kill his friends (even before the truth about his clan was revealed) and want to destroy the world order because he randomly decides he wants world peace via revolution because… reasons? I don't know, Kishimoto should have ended the Sasuke Arc before the 4th Great War arc.

Anyway, thanks for reading,

MindForged~


	5. Chapter 5: Showdown in Grass

**(A/N):** Just responding to a few stuff this time:

 **YeagerMeister31:** The identity of the person following Naruto around Konoha isn't a huge deal, but it will answer a question from a review. I will simply confirm that it is _not_ Hinata, and it's someone Sai wouldn't immediately find for reasons that will make sense!

 **MyAssForYou:** Thanks, I agree about Naruto being underpowered in canon at the beginning. Heck, the series basically showed that unless Naruto was in Sage Mode or KSM, he was maybe low-Jonin at best. And no, he doesn't know Rasenshuriken yet. To use Rasenshuriken, one has to master the highest level of shape manipulation (which is Rasengan) and the highest level of nature manipulation (i.e. master your affinity). Naruto has only gotten to the 2nd level in his Wind Release skill, the level at which you can start using the nature in combat. He hasn't done the 3rd level yet. TBF, Naruto will probably become OP overtime, but I will introduce some things to _try_ and keep it from getting as silly as Shippuden did. Sakura will not fall behind either, and I have some cool techniques planned for her to use. But some of her really cool stuff is a while away. Hehe~

Anyway, on to the chapter! Please **Review** if you can, even if you don't have an account! Reviews help me improve when constructive and I do like knowing if people are enjoying it. :-)

* * *

 **(Land of Grass, forest on the other side of Tenchi Bridge)**

Naruto and Sakura raced through the path Naruto's Wind technique gouged out of the forest ahead of them. As they neared the end of the jutsu's path of destruction, they halted as they saw Orochimaru standing at the center of a huge clearing looking little worse for wear.

The snake Sannin smiled at the pair condescendingly. "Oh my Naruto-kun, that was almost impressive. While I couldn't avoid the attack, it doesn't do much damage. I do hope you have something more for me." The Otogakure leader crossed his arms as if he saw Naruto and Sakura as no threat.

In his younger years, Naruto would have barreled at an opponent dismissing him like that. But now older, he knew he'd have to have a deathwish to charge one of the Sannin head on.

"Naruto, let's mix and match some of what we've used before," Sakura said cryptically. "Follow my lead!"

 _Ox → Snake → Ram_

 _Hidden Mist Technique!_

A pearly-white mist enveloped the area as the pink-haired Leaf-nin sprayed it from her mouth. Orochimaru took up a stance more appropriate for battle.

' _Perhaps they have learned a thing or 2...'_

Orochimaru sensed a presence approaching him quickly from his 6. Turning, he saw the blonde Jinchūriki approaching him with a kunai drawn.

' _Or perhaps not, kukuku…'_

As Naruto swung the blade at Orochimaru, the man avoided him with obvious ease and even boredom due to the normality of the attack. However, a shadow from above caught Orochimaru's attention. The Chunin girl was barreling down at him with a fist cocked back, ready to unleash a devastating blow on Orochimaru.

To compensate for the impending fallout from the attack, Orochimaru dodged backward away from the blast zone. This turned out to be a faint. The blonde from before had appeared behind Orochimaru as the girl in front of him prevented herself from slamming her fist into the ground.

 _Snake → Ram → Boar → Bird_

 _Wind Release: Gale Palm!_

Naruto sent the Sannin flying forward again, but with a smaller scale Wind jutsu this time. Orochimaru didn't bother dodging as it would give him the opportunity to at least wound the girl.

From his mouth, Orochimaru extended his Sword of Kusanagi, a mythical sword which was capable of extending extremely far and pierce through most obstacles.

Sakura did not try to avoid the attack and allowed it to pierce through her abdomen, confusing Orochimaru. But then the henge dispersed revealing the girl to be a Shadow Clone of Naruto, which exploded. The explosion blew away the mist of Sakura's jutsu, allowing the real girl to more easily observe the scene from the tall tree she was hidden in.

Naruto joined her at her hiding spot and grumbled, "It feels cheap to use that tactic twice. Almost like I'm admitting I'm out of ideas, when I've got plenty to throw at this guy."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "If that took that snake freak out - which I doubt - then I'm not complaining how it was done."

Naruto shrugged before continuing, "So what do you think?"

Sakura thought for a moment before responding. "I'm certain of it now, Lady Tsunade was right. He must not be able to use his Ninjutsu as effectively after his fight with Lord Third. We need to keep him on his toes before we hit with something huge. Even if he avoids it, continuous attacks will wear him down when he's weakened like this. Sannin or not, he doesn't have your chakra level."

Naruto smiled deviously and said, "I know what finisher to use on him, hehe. It's a good thing my _Great Breakthrough_ jutsu cleared out this area of the forest or we'd probably get in trouble with the Grass Daimyo."

Sakura raised an eyebrow before asking Naruto to elaborate. As the 2 drew up a battle plan, Orochimaru burrowed to the surface elsewhere in the clearing, having escaped the explosion by tunneling underground.

After he popped back above ground, Orochimaru saw Tsunade's apprentice approaching him. This time, he could tell it was the genuine article as he could feel the concentrated chakra in her fist, just waiting to detonate. After punching the ground and dislodging several huge pieces of earth, the girl proceeded to punch them at Orochimaru for target practice.

' _So very much like Tsunade indeed. Perhaps I should stop having fun and go on the offensive then!'_

Avoiding the numerous projectiles by using the agility of his _Slithering Snake Mode_ , Orochimaru used his _Hidden Shadow Snake Hands_ to send 3 large snakes out of his sleeves to attack the girl in between shots. Before the snakes could bite her, Sakura used _Chakra Scalpels_ to slice the heads off the attacking serpents.

' _Chakra Scalpels as a weapon? I wonder if she got that idea from Kabuto?'_ Orochimaru thought.

Sakura realized she would be at a disadvantage in close combat due to the mobility Orochimaru possessed with his current body modification. ' _The bastard could probably squeeze me to death like a python.'_ She turned around and ran in the opposite direction of the Sannin.

"It's a little late to run away, don't you think? Prey that flees is all the more appetizing~"

Getting down on all fours and opening his mouth, Orochimaru executed a large scale summoning variant.

 _Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes!_

Befitting its name, Orochimaru released scores of snakes from his mouth which all chased after the fleeing Leaf kunoichi. As if it weren't bad enough, each of the snakes revealed they too had extendable blades that came from their mouths.

Before the large summoning got halfway to Sakura's location, 3 Narutos dropped down in front of the onslaught.

"All right boys," said the original in the middle of his 2 clones, "let's light 'em up!"

The original Naruto got things started.

 _Toad Oil Bullet!_

Naturally, this jutsu fired a fast moving stream of oil at the target. Not to be undone, the clone on the original's left joined in.

 _Fire Release: Flame Bullet!_

This jutsu ignited the oil to create a large stream of fire that flew at the ever-growing mass of snakes. While it was unclear if this combination jutsu would suffice, the 2nd clone's contributions would get the job done.

 _Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!_

The Wind Release technique amplified the ignited oil to even greater levels of power, forming,

 _Goemon!_

The triple collaboration jutsu called forth a massive firestorm and was shooting at Orochimaru at blinding speed. Normally, this technique would require _Sage Mode_ to reach its current power. The technique was normally used to bathe the area in a superheated oil lake. However, Naruto's use of _Great Breakthrough_ as the final ingredient instead turned it into a blasting type technique.

' _Hmph, a technique of that scale will require quite a defense to repel it.'_

Smiling, the body-snatching snake bit both his thumbs simultaneously and quickly placed them on the earthen ground.

 _Summoning: Triple Rashōmon!_

The specialized summoning brought forth 3 massive defensive walls lined up in a row in front of Orochimaru. The size of the walls were comparable to the mountain-sized, Kage-level summons like his Manda.

Naruto's _Goemon_ collided with Orochimaru's _Rashōmon_ with a spectacular light show. Naruto's combination jutsu managed to incinerate the first Gate and blow through the second as well. The third Gate, however, withstood the attack with only minor damage by dispersing the remaining pressure of the attack.

Despite having successfully defended against Naruto's attack, Orochimaru was in shock. To overcome even one of the massive Rashōmon gates was a feat in itself, much less a second one with only a single jutsu.

Orochimaru began to sweat little. ' _Just how powerful have these 2 become…'_

* * *

Back near Tenchi Bridge, Kakashi's fight with Kabuto was decidedly lower-key than that of his students, having primarily been taijutsu and weapon-based combat.

Kabuto's taijutsu was above average, but nothing particularly special. The real danger was his use of Chakra Scalpels to cut objects his hands chopped or to attack the organs inside an opponent's body. While this made blocking his attacks directly not an option, Kakashi's speed, taijutsu prowess and Sharingan gave him the edge in evasion.

As the 2 jumped back from each other, they saw Orochimaru's Rashōmon spring up, only to have 2 of the gates destroyed. The impact the the offending technique caused a small quake to come through the area around Tenchi Bridge.

Kabuto couldn't believe his eyes. ' _Those 2 did that much damage to Lord Orochimaru's Rashōmon?! Impossible!'_

Kakashi noticed the brief slip in the attention of his opponent and made to take advantage of it. Appearing in front og Kabuto with extreme speed, Kakashi sliced Kabuto in half with a kunai channelling Lightning natured chakra to augment its cutting power.

This 'Kabuto' however was replaced with a sealed log via the Substitution Technique.

"A nice try, Kakashi. I was foolish to let my attention slip in front of a foe like yourself." Activating his Chakra Scalpels again, he continued, "Let's continue this, Copy Ninja!"

' _It's time for a change of pace,'_ Kakashi thought as Kabuto ran towards him. The man grabbed a smoke bomb from his tool pouch and threw it on the ground between he and Kabuto to obscure the missing-nin's sight.

Kakashi appeared behind Kabuto by using the _Hiding Like a Mole Technique_ to tunnel beneath him and jump out the ground. The Leaf Jonin attempted to slice through the real Kabuto this time with another Lightning-charged kunai when Kabuto turned around and cut through Kakashi's hand with one of his chakra scalpels.

"Did you really think it'd be that easy, Kakashi?" Kabuto gloated.

Kakashi replied with an eye-to-eye smile, "Did you?"

This 'Kakashi' suddenly turned into electricity, which electrocuted Kabuto via the hand he stabbed into 'Kakashi'.

 _Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

The real Kakashi had never left the smokescreen created by his smoke bomb and awaited the result of his deception.

Although he looked a little banged up and smoldered a little, Kabuto stood up and smirked at Kakashi. "Well that was quite rude. If it hadn't been for my _Yin Healing Wound Destruction_ , that might have put me down."

Kakashi sighed in minor annoyance. "Just once it'd be nice if you guys didn't have some kind of trump card."

"Oh but they make things more interesting, don't you agree?"

' _As annoying as this guy is, he presents another opportunity,'_ Kakashi thought as the two engaged each other in combat again.

* * *

Just as Orochimaru was about to begin his counter attack, he heard a loud shout from the other side of the gate.

" **SHANNARO!"**

There was a loud crashing sound coming from near the top of the other side of the gate.

The final Rashomon began to fall backwards towards Orochimaru, like a domino the size of a large building.

Realizing what caused it to fall shocked Orochimaru. Before he could dodge his falling barrier, the ground beneath him turned into a sticky swamp.

"Shit!" Orochimaru shouted. As the Rashomon gate was close to landing on him, a pair of hands began rising out of his mouth…

Naruto and Sakura saw the Sannin's defense technique fall down and did not see the snake escape via the sides.

"I know I got him with Swamp of the Underworld, I felt the jutsu catch him," Naruto said. "If he survived, I bet he's pissed you knocked over his summoning like that." Naruto began to laugh loudly.

Shrugging, Sakura responded "Hey it's not my fault he left the thing sitting there."

Before either of them could avoid it properly, a long sword shot from the ground in front of them at high speed. Naruto was just barely able to push Sakura out of the way of Orochimaru's attack, but the sword cut through a decent chunk of his right shoulder in the process.

"Fuck!" Naruto shouted, as he dove away and grabbed ahold of his injured shoulder. The source of the sword turned out to be Orochimaru's mouth, as his body came out from the hole created by his Sword of Kusanagi.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled. Before Orochimaru could do anymore damage, Sakura ran at the Sannin and slugged him in the face with a strong haymaker powered by Chakra-Enhanced Strength. The force of the blow sent the Sannin rocketing back out of the clearing.

Not bothering to worry about their opponent for a moment, Sakura ran to the bleeding Naruto and inspected the damage. The sword had cut through quite a lot of muscle, skin and bone tissue.

"Dammit Naruto, what the hell were you thinking!"

Naruto chuckled despite the pain. "I could tell that guy was going for a fatal attack on you. Since you're a medic-nin, he knew taking you out first would cripple our team. I figured even if I got hurt it wouldn't be as bad as what he was would have happened to you."

Sakura was stubborn though, even if she knew he wasn't simply being overprotective in this case. "Don't talk, just hold still," she said as she began to heal Naruto's shoulder with the _Mystical Palm Technique_. This would allow her to restore the missing tissue lost from the Sannin's sword strike.

As Sakura healed his shoulder, Naruto kept an eye out for their foe. Because Naruto wasn't a sensor-type, he had a sent his earlier 2 clones to keep watch around the clearing they were in in case Orochimaru escaped. One of those clones had just dispelled to warn him that the snake had indeed just escaped, presumably toward a nearby base.

After the memories came in, Naruto said "Orochimaru escaped, Sakura-chan." He stood up.

Sakura sighed. "I figured he would. I hit him pretty hard so I'd have time to patch you up a bit." She had closed up and repaired most of the damage the sneak sword attack had done. But the shoulder would be tender for a least a few days, which in Naruto's case would probably translate to a few hours.

"Naruto, listen," she said. "You don't need to always put yourself on the line like that. You could have been hurt much worse by that lunatic…"

"But I couldn't stand see you hurt like that, or worse, Sakura-chan."

She gripped the sleeve of his black shirt. "Don't you think I'd feel the same if he got you? How's it fair that you're the only one who can get hurt?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, finding himself uncomfortable at the question. "Well, uh," was all he managed to say in response.

"That's why I was so freaked out when I saw you drawing on so much of the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto. If you had beaten Orochimaru and brought Sasuke back, but lost yourself to the Fox… it just wouldn't be worth it to me…" she said, close to tears as she was looking down.

Naruto didn't know what to say. He was blushing at her words, though he doubted she meant them in the way he wanted her to mean them.

"You know, if you two are going to go full soap opera on me I'm leaving," said a familiar voice behind them.

Kakashi was walking towards them with his headband back down covering his Sharingan. He seemed amused by the exchange between his two students.

Sakura didn't quite understand what her sensei was suggesting. "What do you mean, sensei?"

Before Kakashi could elaborate Naruto interrupted, "Kakashi-sensei, where's Sai, and what happened with Kabuto?"

Getting back to serious mode, Kakashi said "Sai seems to have done a runner. I'd hoped he came to assist the 2 of you, but my guess is he's gone to Orochimaru."

The 2 teens seemed shocked. "Why on earth would Sai defect to Orochimaru?" Sakura said?

Naruto grumbled "Is the slot for our 3rd member just cursed to be for traitors or something? Gimme a break…"

"It seems Lady Tsunade's suspicions about his loyalty were correct; Danzo must have something planned. As for Kabuto, he got away. But, not before I managed to get a bit of intel out of him," the jonin said while tapping where his Sharingan eye was. "I was able to get him into a Genjutsu and extract the location of their nearest base. From his recent memories of the place, Sasuke should still be there. I wish I could have gotten more but he was able to break the illusion."

The 2 perked up at that news. If Sasuke were so close by then this mission might still succeed after all.

* * *

 **(Several kilometers away)**

As Orochimaru fled the battlefield to their base elsewhere in the Land of Grass, he found himself running through the battle he had just gone through again and again.

' _Those are stronger than I anticipated. I'm not sure Sasuke is any stronger than either of them at this point…'_

Both of the Leaf-nin concerned him for different reasons. Orochimaru had already marked Naruto as someone to be wary of when he saw the boy master the Fourth Hokage's _Rasengan_ at a mere 13-years old. Not to mention his access to the chakra of the Nine-Tails. But the medic-nin was proving to be an issue for the future as well.

' _She's already using some of Tsunade's best moves, and she's a medic-nin, likely highly skilled. And if her Genjutsu is as good as her results with Kabuto implied…'_

There just wasn't 2 ways about it. Orochimaru would have to increase Sasuke's training regimen even more… which would be hard considering the insolent brat was always asking for more training, harder training, for more power. Orochimaru needed to ensure that even on his own, Sasuke was a force to be reckoned with. And once Orochimaru obtained Sasuke's body as his own, all his efforts would be worth it.

Orochimaru was considering another option as well: A bounty. There was a loosely connected bounty system in place throughout the continent. After one specified their target and the various required information about said target and deposited the necessary money for those who eliminated the target, the hit for that person would be put out in what was essentially a BINGO Book for bounty hunters.

The issue was Orochimaru knew a number of prominent bounty hunters were after him, notably a certain member of his former organization: Kakuzu of Akatsuki.

' _No, I can't put a hit out for either of them anyway, not yet. I still need them to help weaken Akatsuki further…'_ the Sannin thought in annoyance.

Before he could ponder the matter some more, a large bird descended out of the sky and landed in front of the snake summoner.

The pale Leaf ninja from before hopped off the back of the bird and approached Orochimaru.

"A lone Leaf shinobi seeking glory, perhaps?" he said in amusement.

The pale boy shook his head. "I come as the emissary of my master, Danzo."

This piqued Orochimaru's interest, given his history working for and with Danzo.

' _So that old coot is still kicking, eh. Probably some scheme or other to become the next Hokage.'_

The boy walked forward and handed Orochimaru a manilla envelope from Danzo. "My master seeks your assistance with a certain matter and offers this as payment," he said simply.

As Orochimaru skimmed the contents of the documents from the Root leader, he found himself interested indeed.

"To think Danzo would wish to go this far. Well based on the subject he seeks my knowledge of I can't say I'm surprised he'd come to me, kukuku. Very well, send word to Danzo that I accept his terms."

After creating an ink hawk to deliver the message to Danzo, the bird flew off to Konoha.

"My master also intends for me to work for you now in exchange for your assistance, Lord Orochimaru," the boy said submissively.

"Does he now? Fufufu, we'll see if you'll be worth anything to me, boy."

As the two quickly journeyed to Orochimaru's nearby base, the snake Sannin held no doubt that Danzo's agent couldn't be trusted. But all the same, the death of a Leaf ninja would sate his frustration at not killing the students of his former teammates.

* * *

"Alright team, this is it. I couldn't track their scent because they managed to disguise it somehow." Team 7 minus Sai was outside a large rock outcropping which looked fairly nondescript.

"However, my Sharingan can see some of the chakra those 3 left behind as they raced here. And this location matches what I saw in Kabuto's memories as well."

After the silver-haired jonin finished talking, Sakura asked, "How are we going to get inside, Kakashi-senpai?"

Rather than answering verbally, Kakashi formed a cross seal. The resulting Shadow Clone began to dig through the ground using an Earth technique.

However, about a minute after the clone disappeared into the ground Kakashi received the clones memories and shouted, "Scatter, now!"

The 3 shinobi moved not a moment too soon, as the moment they got away the area of the suspected base exploded from within the structure, sending fast-moving debris in all directions.

Within the destroyed base, Team 7 spotted 2 figures. One on a lower level was their so-called teammate, Sai. The sun-deprived teen had an electrical spear piercing his right thigh. Because of all the dust from the sudden explosion, Team 7 couldn't identify the source of the lightning attack.

As the dust settled, the Leaf-nin could see who incapacitated Sai.

"Sa...suke…" Sakura muttered.

Naruto's heart began to pound loudly in his ears as he saw his old teammate with his sword charge with electricity, which extended off it and into Sai's leg.

Noticing his old teammate looking down into the ruined base, Sasuke sneered with his usual "Hn."

"Figures you would be the one to show up with all this racket, Naruto," Sasuke said. Given the results of their previous fight, Sasuke knew he had nothing to fear from Naruto besides the beast he contained.

Rather than respond verbally, Naruto's hands began to shake in anger. He had to focus on the promise he made to Sakura so as not to kick Sasuke's ass on the spot.

"Look you jerk, you've been gone long enough. You've gotten stronger, you don't need to stay with this psychotic snake guy anymore," Naruto said with barely disguised anger.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with his version of an amused expression. "It'll be enough when I decide it's enough. There's more power for me to attain, so you'd best get out of my way before I put you down for good this time."

This was hard for Sakura to swallow. It was bad enough seeing that memory scroll of Sasuke's attempts to kill Naruto. But seeing him, in person, outright state his intention to murder the one he once considered like a brother… how could things have gotten so screwed up?

"Sasuke, I told you before and you ignored my warning. If you ignore it much longer, and continue to work with a traitor to Konoha, Tsunade won't be able to overlook your defection much longer." As Kakashi was talking, he surreptitiously slipped a hand into his tool pouch and palmed a kunai, having little faith Sasuke could be deterred by mere words at this point. "Forget about revenge. You've let it dominate your whole life."

Sasuke briefly glanced at his former sensei before looking back at Naruto, now with his own 3-tomoe Sharingan. Sakura didn't miss this change in eyes, and began to preempt a likely attack from Sasuke.

"Like you sensei, I don't like repeating myself. I told you all on our first day as Team 7. My ambition is to kill my brother without fail. Before that... everything else is just a distraction!" Sasuke shouted as he ended the jutsu he used to pin Sai down.

Sasuke appeared in front of Naruto in the blink of the eye, intending to impale him with his sword. To his surprise, the blonde was able to avoid his attack and put some distance between them.

Sheathing his sword quickly, Sasuke flashed through a few seals.

 _Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!_

Before his attack could reach Naruto, a large wall of earth sprang up between the 2 and blocked the attack.

Sakura had erected the wall to stop the attack. "Sasuke, you don't need to do this! Come back to Konoha, please! We would fight Itachi with you, you didn't have to up and leave to train with one of the Leaf's biggest traitors of all people!" She was desperate to make the Uchiha see reason. To see one's former crush like this was difficult.

Naruto continued her thought after walking out from behind the stone wall. "How could you must leave like that, Sasuke? We already had 2 of the Sannin in the Leaf when you left. If you wanted someone to train you to be able to beat your brother, you had options. So why the hell would you come to this guy?!" Naruto yelled in anger.

Sasuke looked impassively into Naruto's blue eyes. ' _That's odd. My Genjutsu doesn't seem to be taking effect. My eyes confirm this isn't the Kyuubi's doing, so what… no matter.'_

"Orochimaru's promise of power was a guarantee, and I've gotta say, the results speak for themselves," he said with a gesture at Naruto. "Based on the little I've seen from you Naruto, I can see I made the right choice in teachers."

Naruto glowered at Sasuke and said, "Don't underestimate me and Sakura-chan. We were trained by Sannin as well. Don't assume you've seen anything yet!"

Sasuke began to genuinely laugh for the first time in ages. "Sakura you say? HAH, how cute. She was always the weakest of us, she could barely throw a shuriken decently, let alone put up a good fight. Come on Naruto, at least try and make it interesting for m-"

At Sasuke's dismissive words, Sakura began to emit a powerful blast of Killing Intent his way. While she knew Sasuke's words were accurate as far as 2½ years ago were concernee, it pissed her off that he thought she was the same helpless Genin. That Sasuke was still willing to try and kill Naruto caused her to make up her mind then and there. She'd try to bring him back to face justice, but a childhood crush gone rogue wasn't worth losing her best friend or sensei over.

Sakura appeared behind Sasuke with speed that surprised him. He avoided her right jab and jumped away. As Sakura charged him again, Sasuke's Sharingan showed him that the pinkette was concentrating chakra into her fists.

' _Something tells me I don't want those hitting me…'_

As Sakura began to force him into in taijutsu, Sasuke was surprised how well she could keep up. Luckily, his Sharingan made things much easier for him and allowed him to slip into her guard and deliver a knee to her gut. Still, the girl's taijutsu skill was annoying, as it appeared to surpass his own, though he'd never admit it. When she scored a strong kick to his the ribs on his left side, he was pissed.

"Give it up Sasuke. Orochimaru is powerful but he's no taijutsu master. Tsunade-sama is one of the greatest taijutsu specialists in the entire world. There's no shame in being weaker than her student," she said tauntingly after forcing the Uchiha back.

"Tch." Her taunting touched a nerve in the Uchiha. He hated others seeing themselves as being above him, especially those he considered to be weak or a failure. "You, stronger than me, a member of the Uchiha clan? You were born into an ordinary, common family. All you have are some glowing fists, loser."

Sasuke unsheathed his sword and channelled Lightning natured chakra into it again. "Let's see if your fists beat my _Chidori Katana_!" Sasuke sprinted at Sakura, intent on showing her what true power was.

' _Damn, I don't know how to use Chakra Flow yet. The nearest I have to that kind of technique are my Chakra Scalpels. But at best that could stop a sword, not a sword infused with a nature transformation.'_

Before Sakura had to dodge, Kakashi sped between the two in a split second and pulled out his old ANBU "tanto" he kept sealed away in the ANBU seal on his left shoulder. Although it looked like a tattoo at first glance, it was really a seal Konoha ANBU could use to hide a weapon in when the couldn't keep it on their person.

To block Sasuke's attack, Kakashi channeled his own Lightning chakra into his blade and deflected Sasuke's attack away from Sakura. Kakashi took Sakura's place in the fight, as he and Sasuke battle it out using kenjutsu.

Kakashi realized quickly that his ability with the blade had dropped noticeably. As he and Sasuke traded slashes, stabs and parries with their respective swords, he found himself to be pressed by his often than not.

The 2 Sharingan-wielders ended up pressing their lightning-infused swords together. In a contest of strength, Kakashi had the advantage. But with all the Sharingan use and constant channeling of Lightning chakra, his chakra reserves were dwindling. Since he wasn't an Uchiha, Obito's eye took a greater toll to maintain. A stagnant battle favored Sasuke.

Sasuke pushed Kakashi harder and then shoved his sword into Kakashi's to push him back further, causing Kakashi's balance to waver a little. And a little was all someone of Sasuke's speed needed to end a fight.

As the Uchiha closed in to slice up his sensei, a loud whistle from his right startled him. Immediately he felt slightly disoriented but continued his attack and cut Kakashi's head off.

Or rather, it looked that way. Kakashi faded away into nothingness, as the real Kakashi was a dozen feet away kneeling on the ground to recuperate.

 _Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique!_

"Putting an Uchiha under a genjutsu, Sakura? Child's play," Sasuke said as he turned to look at the girl as his eyes noticed the deception and he dispelled it.

"It got the job done, didn't it? And stop it with this "I'm better than you because great clan" nonsense. In case you haven't noticed, 2 of the Sannin aren't from a clan either. So shut your trap while we knock some sense into you and bring you home!"

"Please, you 2 have barely gotten a scratch on me. And Naruto is too afraid of me to try anything. Isn't that right, scaredy-cat?"

Naruto simply smiled at Sasuke's words, as right then he poofed into smoke. As the Uchiha panicked slightly, the real Naruto grabbed him from behind. As he did to Kakashi in their training exercise, he maneuvered Sasuke's arms above his head to prevent him from weaving hand signs.

"Now Sakura!" Naruto shouted.

Sakura ran at the 2 boys as Sasuke flailed to try and escape Naruto's hold. Naruto positioned Sasuke forward again just as Sakura reached them, the fingertips of her right hand alight with a purple fire and with the kanji of several elements shining within the flames.

 _Five Elements Seal!_

Sakura jammed her flaming fingers into Sasuke's stomach to place the seal.

"Gah!" Sasuke groaned. The seal Sakura placed disturbed the target's chakra flow, making it difficult and in some cases even impossible to use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. It was the same seal Orochimaru placed on Naruto in the Forest of Death, a sealing technique known to very few shinobi outside outside of the Legendary Sannin and the Third Hokage.

Due to the effect of the seal, Sasuke fell unconscious, leaving him at the mercy of his former team.

"We've got him! shouted Kakashi. "We need to move out, quickly!"

Not a moment after the Copy Ninja said that, a large snakes sprouted up from beneath the ground Sasuke lay limp upon and swallowed him before being summoned away. Due to the big serpent burrowing up through the base, the structure became unstable and began to shake as it neared collapse.

"Dammit!" Naruto said. "We had him!" he scrunched his eyes in anger at one of his goals being cruelly snatched away like that.

Sakura ran over to Naruto and turned his head to look at her. "Naruto I know you're mad but we need to get out of here now!"

Naruto snapped out of it and nodded in agreement. After the two jumped out of the crumbling base, Kakashi followed them after grabbing the crippled Sai.

Outside the base the, Team 7 were met with Kabuto once again.

"I must say, Lord Orochimaru and I didn't expect you 2 to put up such a fight. Kakashi was to be expected, but we assumed Tsunade and Jiraiya would only be able to train the 2 of you to be competent." Kabuto pushed his glasses more firmly onto his face using his index finger and his middle finger. "But rest assured, we will not underestimate you again. Be sure to eliminate more of the Akatsuki for us."

And with that, Orochimaru's top henchman disappeared at high speed using the _Body Flicker Technique_.

After Kakashi gave the all-clear, Sakura moved to heal their supposed teammate, Sai.

Kakashi spoke to the boy, though he doubted anything would come of it.

"Why did you abandon the team, Sai?" Kakashi asked severely. Abandoning comrades was one of the things Kakashi simply could not tolerate. "I could kill you where you stand and none of the higher-ups would doubt for a second that we were within our rights when faced with a traitorous ninja."

Kakashi calmed himself, realizing his escalating temper would not help him. "Even if you turned around to attack Sasuke as well, you need to tell us why. What was Danzo's intention in having you placed on my team?"

Sai didn't even look at Kakashi and refused to respond to his questioning. Kakashi thought about using his Sharingan to extract the information he needed, but his chakra was too low to keep up the Genjutsu for long enough.

Naruto spotted another problem. "Sensei, we're going to be sitting ducks to missing-nin and foreign shinobi if they catch us beat up like this. You and Sakura used up too much chakra to be fighting for a couple of days."

Kakashi sighed. "True, but I don't see an easy fix. We could get some extra sleep but I don't like the idea of sleeping so close to where Orochimaru was, even if he left."

Naruto smiled mischievously. "Well sensei, we could ride in style, couldn't we?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto with a confused look.

"You said Sai could create ink birds to write on, didn't you?" He raised his eyebrows up and down repeatedly.

Kakashi almost laughed at the suggestion. ' _He's right. And a nice midday flight would give me some reading time…'_

Kakashi gave Sai a look communicating 'This is not for discussion'. Sai knew he was a hindrance due to his injuries and so did as requested by giving life to 2 large ink birds. Sai and Kakashi climbed aboard one of the birds, while Naruto and Sakura did so on the other.

As Sakura grabbed ahold of Naruto's waist from behind him, Naruto thought ' _Well at least something came out of all of this~'_

* * *

 **(A/N):** Review, favorite, follow.

Hope you enjoyed this. It's pretty fun to write up these battle scenes since I'm not limiting the characters to, like, 2 jutsu like Kishimoto did. For me, this is the sort of thing Naruto and Sakura should have learned over the time skip.

I used this chapter to set up some future stuff as well, such as Kakashi training to reobtain his former skill in Kenjutsu. I liked my idea that the ANBU tattoo is a actually a seal for a hidden weapon. However, the results of this training for Kakashi probably won't bear too much fruit until I get to the 4th Shinobi War arc (assuming I can make it that far, lol). Originally in this chapter I killed Sai off because I hate his character. He was introduced in Part 2 as this guy who was supposed to be like Sasuke. Then we quickly find out he's some nobody and he never does anything at all that matters onscreen. Even Kishimoto realized how useless Sai was when Team 7 got together to fight those things that defended the 10-Tails. Sai was all like "Hey I'm part of Team 7 too… I'm going to attack the 10-Tails headon!" Of course he was instantly beaten by one of the beast's mooks, hehe.

Someone asked me via PM how strong Naruto and Sakura were compared to Sasuke. As I said in this chapter, individually they are about even with Sasuke overall. I'll even give the stats for Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke's stats are listed on his Wiki page, in the row for the 3rd Databook (covers Sasuke's abilities up to what he knew when he fought Itachi). Anyway, here they are:

Order (#/5): Nin, Gen, Tai, Chakra, Mind, Strength, Speed, Hand Signs

Naruto: 5, 2½, 4, 5, 3½, 4, 4, 3½ (total: 31½)

Sakura: 4½, 4, 4½, 3, 4, 3½, 4, 4 (total: 31½)

Note: From the 3rd Databook in canon, Sasuke's stat total is also 31.5 at this point.

I won't update these often, since this is just a silly fanfic, heh.

Next chapter (I think) starts the Kakuzu and Hidan arc. I suspect this will be my , since it's where I will have a looooot of the NaruSaku development begin to pickup. Sorry if you think it has been slow going on that front. However, I have a neat idea that will make things interesting in how and why it develops into a romantic relationship eventually.

Also, I'm sorry if I randomly go AWOL for a few weeks. The end of this year will be very, very, very hectic for me. Might be dealing with a new job and residence, so stuff will be up in the air in the most annoying way possible. I hope this doesn't happen but of course it will happen. Maybe I will be able to sneak in able chapter...


	6. Chapter 6: Training Our Connection

Quick responses:

 **Zigmas:** Hinata was practically non-existent in the series and Naruto barely even noticed she existed. Her entire character is literally just that she's in love with Naruto. She has no characterization and that's just bad writing, shipping notwithstanding. I'll repeat: I didn't much like Sakura in the canon outside of the time period after the Gaara fight up until the Hidan/Kakuzu arc. She was actually competent and developing at that point and then Kishimoto just ruined that for me by making Sakura do almost nothing afterward. She had one moment in the 10-Tails fight and as usual that was made irrelevant a short while later.

 **YeagerMeister31:** Yea sorry about the Naruto vs Sasuke cocktease. Decided to save a proper fight for later, hehe.

 **Maxslayer10:** Thanks! Yea You can probably figure out what my plan is this chapter for developing their relationship, since currently Sakura doesn't return his feelings, she just thinks he's good-looking.

 **MyAssForYou:** Hehe, glad you liked that fight. xD As for the Danzo thing, **for everyone** , be sure to guess who you think the person is that Danzo has stored in the Root facility. The person from Chapter 4 that he has in suspended animation. No one tried to guess it yet, hehe.

 **Sinedd662, MotionGear:** Thanks you two, hope you continue to like it!

I'm surprised I kept Sai alive to be honest. In my outline, I had written that I was going to let Sasuke kill him so he wouldn't be useless like he was in the canon. Now I'm not sure what to do with Sai, hmm. If you do a review (which I greatly appreciate btw), be sure to tell me if you have any good ideas for how I should use Sai.

Also, I'm setting up a poll. Since there will otherwise be some downtime from the Akatsuki stuff, should I put some of the events from the Shippuden movies into this timeslot? (so far, I'm only assuming the events of "Clash in the Land of Snow" happened in my fanon, not the other Part 1 movies) Namely, should i cover the events of "Naruto Shippūden the Movie", "The Will of Fire" and "The Lost Tower". **Check out the poll over on my profile page** and vote~

Anyway, on to the fic!

* * *

 **(2 Days of Travel Later, Hokage Tower)**

Thanks to Sai's ink birds, the trip from the Land of Grass back to the Konoha was rather pleasant when compared to normal ninja travel. The cool breeze of the flight helped temper the heat present in the Land of Fire during the summer season. While Naruto would normally have been fine with the heat, an all-too-different heat arose in him as Sakura hung onto his waist due to her fear of how high up they were. Naruto felt lucky that Sakura couldn't see the blush he was sporting at the close contact.

But all good things must come to an end, as Team 7 soon found themselves approaching the Leaf Village near midday and descended to the ground to walk the remaining meters to the entrance of the village. They then made their way over to the Hokage Tower, where (obviously) the current Hokage resided.

After giving Tsunade a summary of the events in Grass and having a Yamanaka who was close by obtain and seal a copy of the relevant memories pertaining to the mission, Tsunade dismissed Sai from the room before she turned to Naruto with a smirk that made Naruto a bit nervous.

' _This can't be good...'_ he thought with an accompanying sweatdrop.

"Well kid, it seems you're moving up in the world. Just don't let it go to your head, ya hear?"

"Huh?" Naruto said.

Tsunade giggled slightly and pulled out a form from under her desk and placed it on the imposing Hokage desk so Team 7 could see it. Naruto leaned in and read the paper.

 _Shinobi Information Form_

 _Naruto Uzumaki: Approved for promotion by Shinobi Council_

 _Current Rank: Chūnin_

Naruto's eyes widened. In the intervening years, he had honestly forgotten that he wasn't a Chūnin. It had become less of an issue to worry about after he began rethinking his priorities. Not to say he wasn't excited about the promotion, just that it came out of left field for him.

Kakashi whistled. "Well done Naruto. This has been a long time coming."

Sakura slapped his back lightly and said, "Hey, you finally caught up! I guess you'll always be a bit slow in some areas", she finished with a teasing wink.

"That's a low blow, Sakura-chan. I wasn't here to take the Chūnin Exams after all.." he said depressedly.

Tsunade coughed to regain everyone's attention. "To be frank Naruto, this should have been done sometime ago. I pushed for your promotion after you saved the Kazekage for goodness sake. I was even angling for Jōnin, but, well there's no sugarcoating this so I'll be blunt: Some on the Shinobi Council and especially the Civilian Council still don't like you. But even they knew it would look ridiculous not to promote a shinobi with such an accomplishment."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Shocker. But still, thanks for this Tsunade-sama. I won't let you down!"

Tsunade gave him an eye-to-eye smile and replied, "I know you won't."

Sakura spotted the time on the Tsunade's wall clock and said, "I'm going to go catch up with my folks and Ino over brunch. I'll see you later Naruto, Kakashi-sensei, Lady Tsunade~"

As the pinkette left the room, Naruto looked back toward the door wistfully, wishing he had family of his own to go back to. Kakashi noticed Naruto's downcast expression and gave Tsunade a meaningful look, with the Hokage nodding her head slightly at Kakashi's unspoken prodding.

"Well, I too have some pressing matters to get to, so I'll be heading off as well," Kakashi said nonchalantly.

Naruto looked at his sensei and arched an eyebrow. "Sensei, I know you're just going off to ready that advance copy of Jiraiya-sensei's _Icha Icha Tactics_ I gave you before we flew back."

Kakashi didn't respond however, as he had already pulled out the novel in question and was beginning to laugh pervertedly at the adult content within as he walked out of the Hokage's office.

Naruto made to do the same as he shook his head, however Tsunade called him before he could leave.

"Naruto, would you close the door for a moment?"

After doing so, he asked "What's going on?"

Tsunade seemed to grow a bit nervous herself, an expression Naruto wasn't used to seeing from her.

After steadying herself with a deep breath, Tsunade said "I should have told you this a long time ago. You seemed pretty down to Sakura mentioning she was going to see her parents."

Naruto scratched his cheeks. "Ah, yea. Sorry, sometimes it just gets kinda lonely having no one to go home to."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about Naruto. You _do_ have some family left in the world, or at least one, though they're a bit distantly related to you," she said as she stood up and walked around to the front of her desk.

Naruto looked confused for a second before grabbing his hair and yelling, "I'M NOT RELATED TO SAKURA-CHAN AM I?!"

Tsunade's right eye twitched for a second before replying, "No you idiot. I was talking about… me."

Naruto stood still for a moment before whispering, "W-what?"

"Your mother was my second-cousin after all. My grandmother was Mito Uzumaki, she was the one who requested Kushina - her grandniece - come to Konoha from the Hidden Whirlpool Village," she said nervously. It was crazy. Even if they were technically related, there was no way that would be close enough to matter to Naruto. "I know it's not the same as an aunt or a cousin bu-"

"Baa-chan!" he shouted as he ran up to her and gave her a strong bear hug.

"Eh?!" she said, surprised at his sudden reaction to the news. After her initial shock, Tsunade returned his hug. Still, the size of her bust made the situation a bit… awkward on her end.

"I-i-i can't believe it. Am I dreaming?" he asked as tears began to fall down his face. "Are we really related?"

Tsunade could feel some of Naruto's tears land on her neck, so she continued the hug, and rubbed his back and little to help calm him down.

"We are. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. Even if Jiraiya couldn't risk raising you, I should gotten my life together so you didn't have to go it alone." She sighed before continuing, "I loved Dan and Nawaki so much, but I'm sure they're disappointed in how I led my life after they died," she finished somberly.

Naruto chuckled and said "Well you've made up for it in my book. You've already saved my life like twice and you've fought to help me as much as anyone I know." After steadying his own breath he said "Could I come visit you more often, Baa-chan? Uzumakis gotta stick together, right?"

"Haha, sure thing kid, what's family for? Can you forgive this foolish lady for failing her duty, my little Naru-chan?"

Naruto broke the hug and jumped back blushing. "Naru-chan? Don't call me that, Baa-chan!"

Tsunade folded her arms together. "Well since you dropped 'Tsunade-sama' for 'Baa-chan' again, so I figured it was time for some payback."

"Hehe, don't take it personally. You're still the hottest person of your advanced age on the planet. Though if we're related, maybe I shouldn't say that sort of thing anymore."

Tsunade surreptitiously channeled some chakra into her right fist before asking with a false smile, "Hottest of my what?"

"Oh you know, the over-50 crowd. The tapioca eaters. You probably shouldn't drink so much either, can't be good for you declining liver," he said matter-of-factly.

"Ah I see, how thoughtful of you. Hey, Naru-chan? Kakashi says you're pretty fast now, is that right?"

Naruto gave her a thumbs-up and responded "Yup! Jiraiya-sensei put me through hell to increase my speed. I'm nearly as fast as him too."

Tsunade cracked her knuckles and said "Well in that case you're not fast enough. That old pervert never could get away from me and now you'll get a taste of it!"

"What do mea-"

"CHA!" she shouted as she took a swing at Naruto who barely ducked the hit.

"You better move fast, Naru-chan. I'd hate to mangle that pretty face~" she said with a deathly cute smile.

"B-b-baa-chan, I was just kidding about the old lady thing!" Naruto shouted as tears cascaded from his eyes. As he ran from the Hokage Tower, Tsunade was hot on his heels with her "your ass is grass" expression. Tsunade didn't give up the chase for several hours...

* * *

 **(Next Day)**

Naruto and Shikamaru were walking down a road away from the Hokage District and were catching up. Shikamaru had been sent on a mission for a couple of weeks while Team 7 were off rescuing Gaara and had returned from that mission that day prior.

Shikamaru sighed as Naruto finished recounting the events the Nara had missed. "Jeez man, how can I go on saying `it's a drag` when you've gone through all that in only a couple of weeks? What a drag…"

Naruto snorted at Shikamaru's response. "Well at least now I might get some downtime. Kakashi-sensei and I requested a lower intensity mission rate for awhile; sensei wants to teach me some cool jutsu or something."

"Yea Asuma-sensei was training me for awhile on how to use these knuckle-type Chakra Blades he got me," Shikamaru said. He pulled out a pair the the chakra-conducting blades from his tool pouch. "I kept telling him that my combat style and jutsu repertoire don't mesh well with melee weapons like these, but he insisted I'd find a use for them."

Naruto tilted his head, as he would think close-range weapons like the blades would be near useless for a mid-range, tactical fighter like Shikamaru.

"Have you found a use for them yet?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru pouted a bit and replied "Yea, but don't tell Asuma-sensei because he'll walk around with a smug look for a week if he catches wind of it. I realized that since these blades are made from a special type of chakra conductive metal, I could channel different chakra natures into it to retain the properties of that nature. Unlike a normal weapon, you don't

have to keep physical contact with this metal to maintain the chakra flow for a decent amount of time."

"Ah, I haven't learned how to do Chakra Flow yet. What sort of nature transformation do you pump into those?" Naruto asked with curiosity.

"Yin chakra. I'm not supposed to get into the details too much since it relates to my clan's _Hiden_ * techniques, but our array of jutsu are Yin Release based, as our clan specialities utilize chakra that is dominantly composed of spiritual energy and a little bit of physical energy, instead balancing them."

The Nara looked at Naruto to make sure he was following him. To his surprise, Naruto appeared to understand his explanation so far and didn't seem to be faking it. Shikamaru had become well acquainted with the Uzumaki's "I don't really get it but I'll pretend I do" face back in their Academy days.

"I channel the Yin chakra in the way that produces our Shadow Possession Jutsu. Then if I manage to pierce someone's shadow with the charged chakra blade, I can paralyze them in place without having to make them copy my movements like I do with Shadow Possession."

"Woah man, that's awesome!" Naruto said excitedly. "Although it'll probably be harder to stab an enemy's shadow with this over your normal technique, since this only has 2 chances to work."

Shikamaru exhaled deeply and said "I know, I'm working on how to get around that. I think if I work out a way to make an enemy think I'm attacking with a different method, I can use one of these last to snare them while they think it's a different attack."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Before the pineapple-haired teen could reply a brown-haired ANBU wearing mask resembling a cat dropped down beside them from atop a nearby building.

"Naruto Uzumaki," they spoke in a deep voice. "Kakashi Hatake sent me to inform you to meet him at Training Field 11. He is there waiting for you."

"Ah you see Shika, this is what I meant. I'm kind of ashamed that sensei can wait for anyone. Thanks Mr... ANBU. I'll be there soon."

The ANBU nodded and disappeared using the _Body Flicker_ to accelerate away.

"I'll catch you later Naruto," Shikamaru said with a wave. "And congrats on the promotion. My dad was one of those on the council pushing for it."

Naruto grinned at his lazy friend and said "Thanks man, and tell your dad I said thanks for the support."

Shikamaru yawned and said "Yeah yeah, I'll get to that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find a nice patch of grass. Those clouds won't watch themselves, ya know?"

Naruto rolled his eyes before leaping up to the top of a nearby building and taking off across the rooftops of Konoha toward the training fields.

* _Hiden (NOT "hidden", it means "secret tradition") techniques are clan techniques that are only passed down orally to members of the clan. Like the Nara shadow techniques or the Yamanaka mind techniques. They're not Kekkai Genkai, as technically anyone can learn them with proper teaching. However, copying them (even with the Sharingan) is impossible since they're so specialized._

* * *

 **(Training Field 11)**

"Naruto, you really shouldn't keep your sensei waiting you know," Kakashi said in his usual detached tone of voice.

The blonde in question frowned before saying "I'm not going to dignify that with a response, sensei."

Kakashi shrugged before continuing, "Now I'm sure you're wondering what sort of training I called you here for."

Naruto clenched his fists together in excitement as he nodded his head in response. "I'm the only one from Team 7 you haven't trained yet. It better be something awesome, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Well let's start with introductions," the masked Jōnin said she he gestured to the figure standing to his left. It was the same ANBU Naruto had talked to earlier.

"Oh, hehe, I didn't even notice them standing there, I was so stoked about the training," he said as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Kakashi sighed at the boy. He turned to the ANBU and nodded his head, which the ANBU took as a cue to unmask.

As they did so, Kakashi said, "This man is… wait, what should he call you? You're always so picky about sticking to a codename so I'm not even going to try to make the decision for you."

The mask was removed revealing a brown-haired, black-eyed man around Kakashi's age who wore a _happuri_ similar to the Second Hokage's, on which was attached his Leaf forehead protector.

The man responded to Kakashi with a thin-lipped pout. "Leave it to me to stick to protocol, Kakashi-senpai." When the silver-haired Jōnin repeatedly raised and lowered his eyebrows to get him to lighten up, he responded "Eh fine, whatever. He can know my real name."

The ANBU turned and stuck out a hand with which to shake Naruto's. "I'm Tenzō, Tenzō Iburi."

Naruto was surprised. "Iburi? As in the clan that usually works in the Shinobi Air Corps?"

Tenzō nodded and smiled. "The one and only. However, I do not have the family Kekkei Genkai and I went a different route with my career."

It took Naruto a second, but he realized why the man's presence seemed familiar. "Ah I get it. It took me a second to place you, but I recognize you now," Naruto said.

Tenzō looked at the blonde Jinchūriki confused. "Are you sure. I nearly always don my ANBU uniform."

Naruto smirked. "Oh I've never seen your face before, I just recognize you as the guy that's been following me around Konoha a lot since I got back. You have to ability to suppress a Tailed Beast, right?"

Tenzō's eyes widened in shock. "How did know about any of that?"

"Hehe, my furry friend here," he gestured at his stomach, " told me there was someone in Konoha who could suppress a Tailed Beast. Thanks to Jiraiya-sensei's training in espionage and infiltration, I'm pretty good at detecting when I've got a tail on me."

Tenzō nodded and seemed impressed with Naruto. "Still, how'd you know I was the same guy the Nine-Tails mentioned?"

Naruto shrugged. "That was more of an intuitive guess. I figured if I had someone following, but never approaching me, they must be watching for something. But thanks for confirming it, hehe."

Tenzō's head dropped. "So much for me following protocol. I just gave my target mission information…"

Kakashi patted Tenzō on the back. "There there buddy," he said in false sympathy.

"Well you don't need to worry about it anymore, Naruto. This was a mission the late Third Hokage gave me. After he saw you release the Nine-Tails's chakra in the Chūnin Exams, he sent another ANBU to inform me to keep watch over you when you were around Konoha in case you lost control. However, Lady Fifth recently found out about this mission and had it ended."

Naruto nodded, and made a mental note to thank Tsunade… assuming she didn't chase him again. "So Kakashi-sensei, why is Tenzō here? Is he helping out with the training?"

"That he is. While my Mangekyo Sharingan could suppress or your Tailed Beast's chakra or even control the beast itself, it has some unfortunate side effects on me and uses far too much chakra, given how long this training will take. And I've never used this eye to control a Tailed Beast, so it's safer to let Tenzō handle this."

Naruto tapped his chin in thought. "Tenzō, how do you suppress a Tailed Beast anyway?"

Tenzō spoke up. "Naruto, you're still wearing Lord First's adamantine necklace, correct?"

"Yep!"

The ANBU smiled and said, "This is how I do it!"

 _Snake → Rat → Ox → Ram → Snake_

 _Wood Release: Four-Pillar House Technique!_

Tenzō's technique caused a 2-story house complete with a 360 degree veranda going around the outside of the 2nd floor.

Now it was Naruto's turn to be shocked. "But how? How do you have the First Hokage's Wood Release? Are you a descendant of his or something?"

Tenzō chuckled at Naruto's reaction. "This would fall under 'Or something'. No I'm not descended from him. It's not a pleasant story, so to keep it short I'll just say Orochimaru kidnapped and experimented on a lot of kids by implanting the First Hokage's DNA to give the his Kekkei Genkai. I was the only one to survive."

This information sobered Naruto up. "Oh, sorry I asked."

"It's no problem, I got off easy. I'm still here, ain't I? Anyway, that experiment was successful, which is why I no longer possess the Iburi Clan Kekkei Genkai to temporarily disperse into and move around as smoke. In all likelihood, the fact that I was the only child Orochimaru took that already had a Kekkei Genkai is probably why I survived."

Naruto nodded. "Did you ever find your family?" he asked with trepidation.

Tenzō grinned widely. "I did. While my parents had been killed, I still have my older sister, Yukimi."

Kakashi coughed into his hand. "While giving your backstory is nice and all Tenzō, we're getting a bit sidetracked."

Tenzō and Naruto looked at Kakashi apologetically.

"Anyway Naruto, if you want to see something really cool, get ready," Kakashi said.

Kakashi gripped his right wrist using his left hand and began to focus chakra onto the palm of his right hand. A moment later, a swirling orb of whitish chakra appeared in his hand.

"Rasengan?!" Naruto said.

Kakashi was pleased with Naruto's reaction. ' _And here I feared I wouldn't be able to impress him anymore. I still got it, hehe.'_

"Don't be too surprised, Naruto. Kakashi-senpai was Lord Fourth's student. It's natural he'd pick up such a potent technique from him," Tenzō said.

Naruto nodded and said, "Well that's cool and all sensei, but I can already do Rasengan. I even managed to get down to one-handed… even if it took me 6 months to get it there…" Naruto grumbled.

"Oh ye of little faith. I didn't bring you here just so I could show off. We're here to help you complete Rasengan," Kakashi said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Complete it? But I've already mastered it as far as it can go."

"Well you see Naruto, Rasengan is only one half of what it was intended to be. Minato-sensei created Rasengan with the intention of adding nature manipulation to the mix."

Kakashi entered lecture mode and continued. "As you know, Rasengan is the highest level of chakra manipulation. It involves only the control and distribution of chakra, it does not involve changing to properties of the chakra to mimic an element."

Naruto nodded, having learned such from Jiraiya.

"However, Minato-sensei never intended that to be the stopping point, he wanted to create a jutsu which combines the highest level of both shape manipulation and nature transformation. But he failed," Kakashi said in serious voice.

"You mean even do couldn't do it?" Naruto said in surprise.

"Not just sensei, Jiraiya-sama and I also failed to incorporate the element we have an affinity with into the Rasengan. All shinobi have one elemental affinity, the nature their chakra is most attuned to transforming into for elemental jutsu. But even despite all of us trying to add our respective affinity to our Rasengan, it just proved to be seemingly impossible. There's a reason I created Chidori and Raikiri instead" Kakashi said, hanging his head slightly as he felt remembered the frustration of trying to imbue Rasengan with his Lightning affinity.

"The resulting jutsu from this merger would be an S-rank jutsu, maybe even higher. It won't be easy."

Naruto seemed a bit nervous. "But if even you 3 couldn't do it, what makes you think I can?"

Kakashi gave Naruto a genuine smile, one that reached his eyes. "Because if anyone can surpass the Fourth Hokage, I truly believe it's you, Naruto. You have a knack for breaking barriers, no?"

The blonde was stunned by his sensei's declaration.

"Besides, I do have a training method that will make it much faster to learn," Kakashi said smugly.

"And what's that?"

"I know you've noticed by now that after you dispel a Shadow Clone, you receive its memories and experiences, correct?"

The boy nodded. "I used that to my advantage against you, remember?"

Kakashi ignored that and continued. "This method will be simple for you then. Simply create a large amount of clones and have them train with you at the same time. Then after a while has passed, cancel the jutsu and you'll receive all the training experience of your copies. Each clone you do this with increases the experience you get. 1 clone doubles your training experience, 2 triples it and 1000 clones would-"

"Wow sensei, that's ingenious! Is that how you learned so many jutsu?"

Kakashi enjoyed the slight ego boost he got. "No, I only recently thought of this method. It was after I sent that Shadow Clone to investigate Orochimaru's base and it dispelled to tell me the base was exploding."

Tenzō interjected, "Senpai, don't you think we ought to move on to the training itself now?"

"Right you are. Alright Naruto, what is your elemental affinity and how far have you gotten with it?"

"My affinity is with Wind Release. I've finished up to the 2nd level. I haven't had time to master it yet," he replied.

Kakashi turned to his old friend. "Well, you heard him Tenzō. Mind helping him setup?"

Tenzō sighed. "This is going to tire me out isn't it? Might as well get it over with…"

 _Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart!_

 _Water Release: Waterfall Basin Technique!_

At the invocation of these techniques, a huge wall of earth sprang up in front of the trio, and a wide waterfall began pouring down from the top. Tenzō then used his Wood Release to create a large platform the stretched between the sides of the waterfall on which Naruto and his clones could stand.

Kakashi shook his head. "Tenzō, Naruto will need another of these if he wants to make headway in the time we've been allotted to train."

Tenzō grumbled in annoyance since the use of these large changes in environment used up a good chunk of chakra. But when he created a duplicate waterfall and wall beside the first one, Tenzō fell to his knees gasping.

"Ah thanks Tenzō. I would have made these myself but you always have that craftsmanship I can't match," Kakashi said as he sat down in the shade of a nearby tree and pulled out _Icha Icha Tactics_.

Naruto looked back at Tenzō and said, "Thanks Tenzō. I'm still confused about one thing though. Why are you here? I know you can suppress a Tailed Beast, but the Kyuubi has stopped trying to take over me for a long while now."

Tenzō's head whipped to the side toward Kakashi and he glared. "Is that why you really asked me to show up? You said the Nine-Tails needed to be suppressed for the training to be safe."

Kakashi looked up from his book and responded, "You were hearing things man. I'm sure I told you 'The Nine-Tails doesn't need to be suppressed anymore, but you'd be doing me a solid if you helped out'."

Tenzō appeared in front of Kakashi and gave him a blast of his famous 'Fear Face'. "I won't forget this, senpai." And with that, the ANBU man fell to the ground asleep, needing to regain his chakra.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "A-anyway Naruto, go ahead and make as many clones as you can fit up on those platforms. Once you can use Wind Release chakra to cut the waterfall clean in half, you'll have mastered the element and can work to incorporate it into Rasengan."

Naruto nodded at Kakashi. He took off his shirt and used the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu to created 99 clones, that is, 50 Narutos for each of the massive waterfalls, and began his work on master his affinity.

* * *

 **(Several Hours Later)**

Sakura neared Training Field 11, having been told by Shikamaru in passing that Naruto was off training there with Kakashi.

Sakura had decided to bring some chocolate-covered medicine balls she created. They were essentially her version of the soldier pills some ninja use.

Upon reaching the training field, Sakura had to look away to stop a slight nosebleed she got from the sight before her.

 **HELL YEA! Look at all those shirtless, wet Narutos. And those pecs, those abs, girl when are you gonna make your move~**

' _I've got to get this ridiculous voice out of my head…'_ Sakura thought tearfully.

Kakashi had fallen asleep under a nearby tree, with his silly porn book covering his face. A few feet away was another man Sakura didn't recognize, who had also fallen asleep.

Ignoring them, Sakura walked up near the waterfalls and called out to Naruto.

Luckily he appeared to hear her voice over the roar of the waterfalls and jumped down to her. As he got closer, he dispelled his Shadow Clones. Suddenly, he stumbled into Sakura as the mental experience and frustration of his 99 copies trying to bisect the waterfalls all hit him at once.

"Woah there Naruto, take it easy," Sakura said.

As she helped him to the ground, he replied "Sorry Sakura-chan, I didn't realize how hard all that accumulated experience would hit me."

"You need to be careful, Naruto. That trick looks pretty useful, but you'll be in bad shape if you keep stressing your mind like that all at once. Maybe dispel them in spurts instead."

"Hehe, noted."

The two friends spent a little while chit-chatting about their day and future plans before Kakashi walked up to them.

"Oh, when did you get here Sakura?" he asked.

"Just 10 minutes ago, sensei."

"Hm, don't you usually work at the hospital at this time?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura sighed. "I do. It's just that with all the excitement lately, I've been wanting to up my game. As much as I enjoy working at the hospital, I need to keep pushing myself with Akatsuki after Naruto so I asked Lady Tsunade for fewer hours for a little while.."

Kakashi considered Sakura's words for a few moments before replying. "Then Sakura, how about Naruto and I teach you Rasengan? It'll give you an offensive option in combat in case you need to get up close and can't risk using your hands and feet to attack."

Naruto piped up "That's a great idea! I call dibs on teaching it to her!"

Kakashi pouted and said "Aww, but isn't it the sensei's job to instruct his students?"

Sakura frowned and said "Kakashi-sensei, you'd probably end up sleeping while I practiced like you were doing a minute ago."

"Hm, fair point. She's all yours Naruto."

Naruto blushed at the man's words, as they put an entirely different picture in his mind.

"Sakura, I'd also recommend asking Tenzō over there to teach you some offensive elemental techniques once he's up. Like you, he also uses Earth and Water natures, and being able to use offensively elemental techniques can help in pinch," Kakashi said.

Sakura nodded her head, as Kakashi walked off to take an after-nap nap.

Naruto snapped one of his fingers, which caught Sakura's attention. "I've got an awesome idea, Sakura-chan! If I teach you the Shadow Clone Technique, you could master Rasengan and other jutsu even faster. Although since Rasengan all about chakra control, you'll probably blaze through it anyway..." Naruto was still annoyed about his chakra control. Even though Jiraiya helped him greatly improve his control and efficiency, Naruto was still just average at it.

Sakura tilted her head and said "But Naruto, even if I learned to make Shadow Clones, there's no way I could create anywhere near as many as you. My Chakra reserves are middle of the road for about Chūnin."

That quieted Naruto for a minute, who closed his eyes for a minute as he was deep in thought.

"Oh wait, what if I just lent you some of my chakra, Sakura-chan? If I give you about half of my Chakra when we train, you can make about as many clones as I can. Probably more since you don't waste any chakra according to Ebisu-sensei."

Sakura's eyes blinked at the solution he gave. "I didn't think about that. OK, let's do it! Just be careful, I'll have to make sure the chakra transfer is done a bit slowly so I don't get overwhelmed. The borrowed chakra probably won't last more than a few hours each time either."

The 2 pressed their fists together to act as a bridge for the chakra transfer. Since ninja besides the Hyūga can most easily release chakra from the chakra points in their hands, it made sense for them to use them as a means to share chakra.

As soon as the transfer began, Sakura was enveloped in a strange sensation. It was as if she were being bathed in the comforting warmth of a lit fireplace in the dead of winter. It filled her with bright, cheery feeling that was foreign to her, yet not unpleasant.

Trying to distract herself from the pleasing sensations, she said "Alright now explain the technique Naruto."

"Well the Shadow Clone Technique is a Yang Release technique. Since you know medical ninjutsu, you're already familiar with it. Unlike the normal Clone Jutsu, which is Yin Release since it is basically an optical illusion, basically…"

As Naruto launched into his simple way of understanding the technique in question, Kakashi watched on with a smile on his face at the sight of his students working together to improve each other.

* * *

 **(A/N):** First things first, go check out the poll on my profile if you haven't already. It's about the future of this fic and if I should cover a few of the Shippuden movies. Anyway, please leave a review if you can!

Some of the information in this fic is made up by me, but based on either anime events, modified anime events or information I inferred because it made sense but wasn't directly stated. Like in the anime, Tenzō/Yamato he was confused as the younger brother of a boy named Tenzō by a girl named Yukimi, who was was a member of the anime-only Iburi Clan. A clan who have the Kekkai Genkai that let's them turn into smoke (usually unintentionally, killing themselves). So I just modified it to make that his actual family. I even made the clan in question the primary people running a part of the Konoha ninja forces that I made up, the "Shinobi Air Corps". It never made sense to me in canon that the major villages didn't have anything dedicated to combating aerial threats to their village. So to me, the Iburi Clan's Kekkai Genkai to turn into smoke (which I modified to be temporary and controlled in this fic) seemed a good fit.

Also, I assumed medical ninjutsu is Yang Release since Yang Release deals with chakra that has an imbalance where there is more physical energy than spiritual energy, and physical energy is the energy of the body's cells so it seemed the reasonable conclusion to make. Also I made Kakashi's chakra white. Naruto's base chakra in this fic , just like in the manga.

I decided to make Naruto and Tsunade related, if a bit distantly. It's non-canon, but I wanted to do it because it seemed nice. Also, it gave me an excuse to bring back "Baa-chan" and have it make sense (someone asked this in the comments a while back). xD

I'll just say this: No Naruto's chakra isn't going to magically make Sakura fall in love with him. That would be really lame, lol. Lastly, I'm going to stop doing author's notes at the top of my first after this one. I got a PM that told me it was a little annoying to see it in 2 places, and I kind of agree. I'll probably just stop doing responses to people in the fic itself and just do PMs, unless a guest asks asks a question.

Anyway, **Favorite, Follow, Review!**


	7. Chapter 7: Rebirth

**(A/N):** Just noting: Unlike in canon, I'm declaring that the exchange rate for ryō (the currency in Naruto) is the same as real life Yen to American dollars (about 100 yen to $1 USD, I'm simplifying it). It's just easier this way, otherwise you'd start seeing huge numbers of currency when the actual value is much lower than it would seem! In Naruto canon, the exchange rate is like 1000 ryō to $1 USD, lol. It's dumb really, because S-rank missions get you 1 million ryō but that's only like $1000 USD for extremely dangerous work… wtf?

* * *

 _A blonde shinobi dressed in a black uniform jacket was combating the huge, many-headed, dark-purple demon along with a similarly blonde priestess who was aglow in angelic light._

 _Despite seeming to gain headway in the battle, one of the demon's heads smacked the blonde into the hard, rocky ground below after he had jumped into the air to fight the demon._

 _Several of the heads then opened their mouths and took aim the blonde male and shot out blasts of purple chakra at the young man. The blasts detonated on the shinobi's position, exploding on contact. When the resulting debris and smoke cleared, the priestess could no longer see the boy who had been fighting alongside her, causing her to tear up._

" _Well priestess, it seems my feasting here has come to an end. But I'd hate to leave without first cleaning my plate," the demon said._

 _As the heads then took aim at the priestess and again fired the chakra blasts at her this time…_

The priestess in question awoke with a start, a few hundred kilometers away from where she had been in the vision, crying at the events she had seen.

* * *

 **(An Underground Base, Land of Rice Paddies)**

After getting off his bed without waking its other occupant, a raven-haired youth left his room and walked the winding hall outside that circled the entirety of the subterranean lair.

The long, uninteresting hallway gave the boy time to think over his recent loss. And the more he thought about it the more irritated he became.

' _I expected Kakashi to be tough. The power he gained from my clan's eye makes him formidable. And his experience in the 3rd Great War makes him a hardened veteran in battle.'_

The tenderness of his stomach reminded him of what was really bothering him. The seal Sakura placed on him had been removed by Kabuto after Orochimaru taught him the corresponding unsealing technique. As his arms were still largely crippled, Orochimaru could not perform the jutsu himself. When Sasuke had awoken, he was furious at how he had been rendered helpless by a lesser shinobi, even if she had help.

' _I know Naruto and Sakura were beneath me 2 years ago. I've been training under Orochimaru, there's no way those losers should have caught up to me, unless...'_

His gaze hardened into a glare as he walked with a set destination in mind.

Upon reaching the door in question, Sasuke kicked it open without warning, much to the annoyance of the room's occupant.

"Sasuke-kun, to what do I owe the… honor of your visit?" Orochimaru asked from the bed he was laying on. His deteriorating health was unmistakable, what with ever present sweat on his brow and the periodic coughs. Not to mention the various monitoring equipment Kabuto had attached to the man gave an air of frailty to the usual commanding presence of the Sannin.

Sasuke scowled at the bedridden man. "Don't play games with me, Orochimaru. You know exactly why I'm here. You promised me power yet I'm barely any stronger than my old teammates."

Orochimaru grimaced, as he was between a rock and a hard place. On one hand he _had_ trained Sasuke considerably, to the point where he could likely rival many S-rank shinobi. On the other hand, the boy's ego couldn't entertain the possibility that those he saw as inferior could match him. Thus in Sasuke's mind, that could only imply Orochimaru wasn't upholding his end of the bargain and had something in reserve.

' _Damn. Gen'yūmaru's body is showing signs of rejecting possession by my soul. I can't afford a high-level fight in my current state. Even with the emergency backup in place, Sasuke is too good a host to give up on this late in the game… Good thing I kept some incentive nearby.'_

"Sasuke-kun, I have given you power, just as I promised. My cursed seal, Kabuto's body enhancement drugs, your improved jutsu arsenal. Surely you don't mean to suggest you haven't improved these last couple of years?" The dismissiveness in Orochimaru's voice was unmistakable.

Sasuke continued undeterred, "There's more you can give me. You're not the type to show your hand unless cornered. Either you give me what I need or my time here is at an end."

"Kukuku, you're in quite the rush Sasuke. Only patience and preparation will get you what you desire. But very well, I do have _something_ that would fit you rather nicely." The leader of Otogakure opened the bedside drawer next to him and pulled a worn-out scroll from within. He had expected the young Uchiha to search him out after his run-in those 3 Konoha-nin. Even Orochimaru found the improvement of Sasuke's former teammates to be well outside his projections.

After he tossed the scroll to his protégé, the snake set the bait for Sasuke. "This is a jutsu whose theory and method of execution I developed some time ago. However, I haven't found the time to master it myself, especially in my current condition. But make no mistake, it's a powerful technique. Perhaps even powerful enough to kill your brother under the under the right circumstances."

At these words, Sasuke quickly opened the scroll and began skimming its contents to verify the Sannin's claims.

"This is…" Sasuke began.

It was undoubtedly powerful. It was exactly the sort of finisher that was missing from his arsenal. It was virtually universal for S-rank shinobi to have some devastating technique or ability to put them well over the heads of lesser ninja. Itachi had the advantage of possessing both: a powerful ability, his Mangekyo Sharingan as well as 2 powerful techniques that accompanied it. Sasuke knew he needed much more if he wanted to ensure he killed Itachi and also prove his superiority over Naruto and Sakura.

After rolling the scroll back up and pocketing it, Sasuke said "This will do, for now." The Uchiha then turned around and walked out as abruptly as he had come in, slamming the door shut on his way out.

After he heard Sasuke's footfall disappear down the hallway, Orochimaru whispered to himself in amusement, "Sasuke-kun, you do so love to test my patience, but the wait is worth it to gain my perfect host."

A few minutes later, the door to Orochimaru's room was opened again, but more politely this time. In walked Orochimaru's second-in-command, Kabuto.

"What is it Kabuto? I did not send for you."

The white-haired youth had a serious look on his face as he responded, "I know, Orochimaru-sama. But we've received some worrying pieces of news from your subordinates stationed around the continent."

Orochimaru frowned. Kabuto wasn't the type of person overestimate a threat, much less to bother his master about it unless it was a time-sensitive matter or it interfered with Orochimaru's work.

"Go on," Orochimaru said simply.

"The most pressing matter is the sighting of a large stone army spotted marching through the Land of Swamps a few days ago. According to our sources, they number in the low thousands and are heading East, destination unknown," the Oto-nin said while frowning.

"Kukuku, so he's returned," Orochimaru said, shaking his head.

"Who are you talking about, Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked.

"The source of this stone army. The demon Mōryō is attempting to return to this world," the man said with an amused look on his face.

"Mōryō?" Kabuto said in confusion. "I've never heard of this demon. Is it the name of a Tailed Beast?"

"Hardly. Mōryō is a lesser demon and like his brethren, he once inhabited a pocket dimension linked to our world. He's strong for his kind but well below even the weakest Tailed Beast; there's a reason he needs that army to act as his advance force," Orochimaru said.

"If he's not a threat then why is his potential resurrection agitating the Elemental Nations? There have been significant troop redistributions from Suna and Iwa to their respective borders, as they are the closest major nations to Demons." _**(1)**_

"Supposedly, he can increase in power over time by drawing on the darkness in people's hearts. It's said that darkness is what gave birth to Mōryō in the first place," Orochimaru explained.

Orochimaru then chuckled quietly before continuing, "No one knows for sure seeing as he was defeated rather quickly the last time, so I'm not surprised you've never heard of him, Kabuto. His first attempt to take the world was a historical footnote when compared to enormity of the Third Shinobi World War a few years beforehand. Because the Uzumaki Clan had been destroyed about 2 decades prior to his rise, the Priestess Miroku of the Land of Demons was brought in to place a seal on Mōryō. She took on his stone army almost single-handedly before sealing the demon away."

"If this priestess sealed him away how has this army returned?" Kabuto asked.

"From what I understand, the Priestess used the last of her power the split the demon's soul from his body, causing her to die a few days later. An interesting seal known to a few among the religious caste and not dissimilar to the Uzumaki's Dead Demon Consuming Seal, though weaker in power. Mōryō's soul was sealed and hidden in the Land of Demons, while his body was sealed within a dormant volcano in the Land of Swamps to the West. Someone must have released his soul, allowing him to raise his army to aid his revival."

After gathering his thoughts for a few moments Kabuto said, "How are we going to account for this? This is likely to cause trouble for us, even if it diverts the attention of the world powers away from us."

Orochimaru shrugged and said, "For now we'll do nothing but watch how this progresses. The 5 Great Nations will mount an offensive on the Mōryō and his army in short order; they wouldn't allow such a force to challenge their military supremacy or endanger their civilian populations. We can send Sasuke-kun to finish the demon if it becomes a nuisance to our operations. The location of the demon's body would be an excellent location to make use of the jutsu I gave Sasuke," Orochimaru said with finality.

Kabuto nodded and continued, "As for the other news, we've received reports of a few kidnappings by perpetrators unknown. A Jōnin from Kumo and another from Iwa were taken while on missions for their respective villages."

Orochimaru crossed his arms. "And why should these isolated incidents concern me?"

"It wasn't until the group failed to kidnap one of Suna's top Jōnin, Pakura, that I noticed the connection. Whoever it is appears to be targeting those with powerful Kekkei Genkai, as the 2 who were taken had bloodline abilities just as Pakura does. And as they've yet to target anyone from the Land of Fire, Sasuke could be next for all we know. You don't often find Kekkei Genkai as powerful as the Sharingan," Kabuto said.

' _Now who could this be, I wonder? It can't be Akatsuki, it doesn't fit their MO. They seek powerful jutsu yes, but primarily they are after the Jinchūriki. They don't need to accrue Kekkei Genkai abilities to accomplish that,'_ Orochimaru thought. ' _It must be a smaller group to remain completely unknown after taking those sorts of shinobi from 2 major villages. Since Kiri's civil war ended just over a year ago, they'll have an easier chance catching a high-value target from the Land of Water if Kabuto is correct about what they seek.'_

"Keep an eye out for this group's activities. If need be, go yourself to determine who they are and what they are after," Orochimaru commanded. "If they make an attempt on a Land of Water shinobi with a bloodline ability then we'll know for sure and will deal with them swiftly."

"Understood, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto responded before exiting the room.

Once alone, Orochimaru mused, "A number of groups are making their moves it seems. But they fail to understand the subtlety & meticulous preparation required to bring a large plan to fruition, despite what setbacks arise. Let's see who comes out on top, shall we?"

* * *

 **(Konoha, Training Field 11, A Week after training started)**

Thanks to Kakashi's idea to use Shadow Clones to speed up training dramatically, it had only taken Naruto 2 days to finish mastering his affinity for Wind Release techniques. Now that he was a master of the element he had an affinity for, Naruto had spent the last 4 days working to add Wind-natured chakra to Rasengan.

"Haaa!" growled out several dozen voices at various intervals as they focused their chakra into their respective hands. A bright yellow orbs began to the shape in their hands, with a set of four white blades beginning to appear around the orb.

"Gah!" shouted others as the glowing yellow spheres in their hands dispersed violently, causing them to dispel in a puff of smoke.

One of the Narutos laid upon the ground as he began to gulp down air. As he and his doppelgangers had been working since the morning to successfully create the technique. A few times some of them managed to get the technique working only for it to destabilize and fall apart within a few seconds.

"Dammit!" Naruto said in frustration. "Is this jutsu even possible?" At this, he began to dispel groups of the Shadow Clones at 20 second intervals so as to gain their experiences at a more manageable rate to prevent passing out.

Kakashi continued to watch his young student as he tried to do what Kakashi and his predecessors failed to do.

' _It's only the 4th day since he began adding the Wind element to Rasengan and he's already reached this point. This is where I failed and gave up on the technique myself. It seems this training method is as effective as I suspected it would be,'_ thought Kakashi.

As his student was resting to put his mental and physical houses in order, Kakashi turned his attention other student.

It had only taken Sakura a few hours to learn the Shadow Clone Technique on the first day they trained. With the chakra Naruto shared with her, she could then use the Multi Shadow Clone Technique to create hundreds of copies of herself to speed up the learning process dramatically.

"Again!" Tenzō commanded.

The numerous Sakuras began to mold their chakra into the Water element.

 _Boar → Dog → Ram_

 _Water Release: Tearing Torrent!_

The couple dozen Sakuras shot large streams of swirling water from their hands at an equal number of wooden targets Tenzō erected with his Kekkei Genkai.

About two-thirds of the Water techniques hit the intended target head on. The others only managed a glancing blow.

The real Sakura sighed. "Drat, I thought I had it this time… 66% isn't gonna cut it."

Tenzō shook his head and said "Don't worry about it too much. You've made excellent progress in just a couple of days. The high speed rotation of this technique takes awhile to get used to aiming properly."

"If I could just make more clones I could finish a bit faster…"

"50 Shadow Clones is more than enough. It's not healthy for your spiritual energy to take on that much stress in one day, much less repeatedly over an extended period. This would be pointless if you just end up weakening the strength of your chakra," Tenzō said sternly. "That's why Kakashi-senpai also restricted Naruto to 100 clones at a time, even if his stamina recovers quickly."

"Hm, why does he get to use more clones? We start off with the same amount of chakra so I can handle that much..."

Tenzō smiled before answering, "The pretty straightforward." He pointed behind Sakura toward where she was firing her Water techniques. The terrain was pretty well torn up and soaked in water. There were lots of accidental mud pits and torn up trees from the many misses Sakura had with the current jutsu Tenzō was teaching her. If Sakura doubled the number of clones, she was bound to begin damaging nearby training fields that they weren't cleared to use.

Sakura sighed in resignation, so Tenzō tried to cheer her up by saying, "Maybe now is a good time to have Naruto teach you the Rasengan. He seems to be resting up after all those failed jutsu attempts, so having something he can do to distract him would be good for him."

Sakura nodded and walked over to her teammate who was still resting on his back. The ground in his vicinity was dotted with small craters due to the many failed executions of his technique.

"No luck yet, Naruto?" Sakura asked sympathetically.

Naruto sat up quickly at the sound of her voice. "I had something for a bit, but it's way too unstable. It falls apart almost immediately," he said in annoyance before he fell back onto his back in frustration.

Sakura sat down next to him and said "I'm having a tough time myself. Aiming the 3rd Water technique Tenzō has taught me is hard. He said the jutsu is good for collaboration attacks, but the water swirls around so much that my accuracy drops."

Naruto nodded in understanding. After they sat around staring at the clouds for a short while, Sakura asked gently, "Naruto, why did you hesitate to fight Sasuke last week?"

Naruto sighed in response. "So you did notice…"

"Not until Sasuke mentioned how you were standing back during the fight. I know we agreed that I'd place the seal to knock him out, but you seemed to hesitate to fight. It was OK since Kakashi-sensei was there to take over, but I was worried something was wrong with you."

Naruto went silent for a solid 30 seconds before answering, "I guess I didn't want to believe nothing had changed with Sasuke over the years. I thought maybe being around that snake freak for a few years might have made him rethink what he was doing..."

Sakura didn't respond to what Naruto said, leading Naruto to assume she didn't quite like him bad mouthing the boy she was in love with.

Then Naruto said "But hey don't worry Sakura, I'll find a way to bring him back. He's stubborn but not as much as I am. He'll come back as his old self eventually!"

Even as he said it, Naruto felt a bit hollow inside. It had cut him deep when Sakura had tearfully pleaded Naruto to bring Sasuke back and even worse when he failed as Sasuke dove headfirst into the darkness that pervaded much of the Shinobi world. And it wasn't easy telling someone you were in love with that you'd help them hookup with another guy.

' _If she feels about Sasuke the way I do about her, I don't stand a chance…'_ he thought sadly. Naruto wasn't the type to give up, but as his sensei had often told him, when it came to matters of the heart, that kind of determination could backfire horribly if it was unrequited.

While Naruto had been talking, Sakura had been doing some introspection of her own.

Naturally the Sasuke she met was a far cry from her perception of him in their youth. Sasuke had never had a very warm gaze to her memory, but the cold, black orbs that were his eyes were, in their own way, as unsettling as the slitted yellow eyes of Orochimaru. Then there was the belittling her lack of grand ancestry and the whole "I'm going to murder you" stuff.

' _Uhg, I wish I could go back and slap my younger self for going on about how being in love with that prick,'_ she thought.

"Even if he comes back it just wouldn't be the same." Sakura said.

Naruto looked confused. "What do ya mean?"

"You know better than any of us. Sasuke betrayed too many people and showed no concern for how his actions affected his comrades," she said before Naruto interrupted.

"That's not what I meant. Weren't you, ya know, in love with him?" Naruto asked in embarrassment. "You were always pretty… into him back then."

Sakura blinked at few times before giggling. "Don't remind me. While you were gone I kept asking myself just what I felt for him. I mean sure he was good looking but eventually I realized I barely knew a thing about him."

Naruto nodded, as he could understand the sentiment. He had long since realized his initial interest in Sakura had been just as shallow, even if it had developed into something more over time.

As she finished talking, Sakura couldn't help but notice the odd expression on Naruto's face. She wasn't sure, so she assumed he didn't like her bad mouthing his former best friend.

' _Oh why am I such an idiot? This is too depressing of a topic.'_

In reality, Naruto was having a small parade in his mind in response to Sakura's words.

' _I might stand a chance then!'_ Naruto thought in ecstacy. ' _They all called me an idiot but dammit Sasuke, I'm not gonna mess this up like you did.'_

As Naruto began to sit up and lean back on his hands, Sakura reached over and gave his shoulder a brief, affection pat. "Sorry about that. I know it was hard seeing him like that. You don't have to throw up a front for me, you know that right?"

Due to the affectionate gesture, Naruto was a little slow to respond. "Huh? Uh, yea, sorry I was just… nice weather we're having isn't it?"

Sakura looked at him in confusion before waving it off as just a Naruto moment.

"Anyway Naruto," she said in a clunky attempt to change the topic, "the reason I came over here is to see if you could start teaching me Rasengan."

Naruto seemed to appreciate the safer grounds and replied "Sure thing, Sakura! I was waiting for you to ask all week!"

At that declaration, he pulled a small piece of paper with a storage seal on it from his tool pouch.

After channeling a bit of chakra into the paper seal, a blue water cooler poofed out of the seal onto the ground between the two friends.

Opening the cooler up, Sakura could see the contents were separated by a thin piece of cardboard. On the right were what looked like a couple dozen water balloons while on the left were what appeared to be an equal number of small, white rubber balls.

Upon seeing the questioning look on Sakura's face, Naruto said "These are the first two steps to mastering Rasengan. The Fourth Hokage came up with these steps to make teaching the technique to others easier. The first step is all about rotation."

Naruto grabbed one of the water balloons into his right hand. "Your goal for the first step is to rotate the water within the balloon using only your normal chakra, and have the rotation pop the balloon."

Naruto performed the test himself to give her an idea of how it worked. The water within the balloon could be seen spinning rapidly before it burst.

"The key is to spin your chakra in a lot of directions at once to pop it," he said before handing Sakura another of the water balloons.

As Sakura began the exercise, Naruto wasn't surprised when 15 minutes later she managed to pop the balloon.

"Hah, I did it!" she said in excitement. "What's next?"

Naruto frowned and said "I knew you'd do it fast but come on. It took me a while to get that part down."

Sakura just shrugged, causing Naruto internally curse about how unfair it was to have as mediocre chakra control as he had.

Reaching into the cooler again, he pulled out one of the white rubber balls this time, which Sakura noticed caused him to grin a bit evilly. "This step will be much harder for you, I imagine. Unlike the last one, these rubber balls don't have any water to help you pop them with your rotating chakra. The key to this exercise is Power. It will be much harder to pop the rubber balls since they lack the assistance the water provided, so you'll need did use denser chakra and spin it even more rapidly."

As Sakura began the arduous process of mastering the Rasengan, Kakashi became lost in his own thoughts due to running into his former student the previous week.

' _Even if I was a little tired from fighting Kabuto, I should have performed better against Sasuke in that kenjutsu scuffle. I'm still pretty spry at 29…"_ Kakashi thought. ' _This is what I get for letting that skillset slip. My lack of diligence could have cost my students their lives.'_

Kakashi could only think of one person who could help him become reacquainted with the art of the blade to the level he needed to attain. Someone who used the same style as him, who was once in the same unit.

' _Damn, but she's been so distant with everyone since Hayate was murdered; she's thrown herself almost entirely into ANBU to escape dealing with the pain. Not like I can judge though, I was the same for a time…''_

While Kakashi was daydreaming about the good old days, the timer he set up went off.

As he reached over to quiet the blaring alarm bell, he called out to his students. "OK you two, it's been 2 hours. It's safe to use the mass of clones for training again."

The 2 nodded and face each other with fists outstretched. As their fists met to allow the transfer, Naruto and Sakura closed their eyes to make it easier to concentrate on the flow of the chakra. As he'd seen it a number of times over the week, he looked back down at his book while Naruto transferred about half his chakra to Sakura.

If anyone had been paying attention, they would have briefly seen a purple seal begin to appear on Sakura's forehead after the transfer. However, as she summoned 100 Shadow Clones of herself to speed along the Rasengan training, the seal faded away due to the shared chakra being split among the copies.

* * *

 **(3 Days Later, Approaching the Land of Swamps)**

As the team of Leaf-nin lead by Neji made there was through a few small nations that separated Swamps and Demons, the Hyūga jonin barely suppressed a sigh.

2 days prior, he and his team were given a mission to safely escort the High Priestess Shion of the Land of Demons to a dormant volcano in the Land of Swamps. Not too long after greeting their client - the priestess in question - Neji knew the mission would be annoying.

Soon after seeing his teammate Naruto, Shion informed him he'd be dying in a few days time. Naruto, to his credit, kept his cool and asked her to elaborate. Upon learning about the prophesying Kekkei Genkai passed down to the priestesses in the Land of Demons, Naruto rejected Shion's prediction as not being a certainty.

"It's a guarantee. My death visions have never once proven false," Shion had responded.

Naruto shrugged and countered, "And how many of those who you told were doomed tried to fight against the future you told them?"

This had stumped the priestess. Given the history of her family's powers and her own track record of true predictions, Neji figured Shion never had to deal with a subordinate who would actively fight against the supposedly infallible visions of their leader. Especially since most of a religious leader's guard would rather die in service than save their own skin and live with the shame.

"Besides, if it's the track record you want to compare then how about we make a bet?" Naruto said with a smirk.

Shion looked at him in confusion, prompting him to continue, "I've never lost a bet in my life. So let's wager. If I die on this mission, you can have all the money I've won over the years."

"And how much is that?" she asked.

"Hm, about 25 million ryō from what I remember," Naruto said.

…..

Sakura recovered first. "25 million?! What the hell Naruto, with that kind of cash in the bank why do you eat so much instant ramen?"

Naruto shrugged and said, "You'd be surprised how many casinos I got Jiraiya-sensei and me kicked out of. They all think I'm cheating, but I can't help winning. Gambling is boring anyway, sensei just blew through most of the money I would make so I quit."

Everyone fell to the ground at this, cursing the gods for giving such luck to the ungrateful…

Shion rolled her eyes after standing back up and couldn't help but say, "And if you survive, what do I have to do? ...And if you say anything perverted, I'll have my guards castrate you." Sakura couldn't help but 'whoop' in support of the sentiment.

Undeterred, Naruto replied, "You have to work on getting rid of your stuck up attitude with these visions or whatever. I've only seen you speak about them this one time and I'm already annoyed. I can't imagine how frustrated your guards are…"

Over the last couple of days, Shion had a number of arguments with Naruto as they made their way to the Land of Swamps. Mercifully, Naruto managed to keep a levelhead. Given the priestess was their client on an important mission to restore the seal that her mother used on the demon Mōryō, it was imperative that those on the mission not embarrass their village. Luckily, the priestess received training in Ninjutsu and a serviceable training regimen so the Neji's team did not need to carry her the whole way as they might have done for other royalty, which helped them get through the intervening countries quickly.

As they approached the border to the Land of Swamps via the tree jumping, Neji picked up 4 strong chakra sources approaching them from their 5 o'clock quickly, courtesy of the telescopic vision of his Byakugan. They were still a few hundred meters away, but his team needed to get ahead of this immediately.

Neji gave his team - consisting of Naruto, Sakura and Lee - the signal to stop, to which they quickly complied. Shion looked a little miffed at being stopped when they were only a few dozen kilometers from their destination.

"Neji, what's going on?" Lee asked in concern.

Neji pointed in the direction of the oncoming threat and replied, "We have company coming from that direction. They'll be on is shortly and from what I can see of their chakra, they aren't the usual missing-nin hires. It appears as if some foreign element was injected into their chakra networks to amplify their abilities."

Naruto spoke up, saying, "We need to get the Shion-sama to the sealing chamber. I'll keep these guys busy."

"Not alone, Naruto-kun!" Lee said energetically. "This is the perfect opportunity to see where we stand in comparison to each other."

Naruto sighed at Lee's unfailingly competitive nature. ' _Still, his skill in Taijutsu is a definite benefit if these guys are skilled as Neji suspects.'_

"Don't worry, Naruto. Neji and I will make sure Shion makes it the chamber," Sakura said.

Neji nodded, given that his perceptual abilities and Sakura's medical ninjutsu made them the optimal pair to keep their client alive and safe.

Shion crossed her arms and said in irritation, "Alright already, we need to go now. Mōryō needs to be sealed away again before he regains his body! That matters more than who stays here to die against those trying to resurrect him."

Even if she was being rude, Shion had a point. None of those present were sensor-types, but even they could sense the increase in chakra that Mōryō's empty body was putting off. Whoever was carrying his soul must have been getting close to the dormant volcano the demon's body was sealed within, causing the chakra to resonate.

Neji turned to Naruto and Lee and said seriously, "Don't go overboard you two. If you get overwhelmed, just delay them long enough for Shion-sama to place the seal and escape."

Rather than directly accepting what Neji said, Naruto turned around and said "Get going you two."

As the 2 Leaf-nin left with Shion, Lee turned to Naruto with a thumbs-up and smile and said, "Let's hit 'em hard, Naruto!"

Naruto returned the smile and said, "You took the words right out of my mouth, Lee."

* * *

As a group of group of 3 ninja working under the medic-nin Yomi neared their targets, a torrent of wind tore through the area. Setsuna create a strong burst of wind from his palms to quickly blow him out of the path of the oncoming attack as it blew away the trees he and his group were jumping between. His teammate Gitai encased his body in a craggy rock armor using his _Earth Release: Hardening Technique_. The added weight of his Earth technique prevented the strong wind from blowing him away.

Their final teammate - an orange-haired woman named Shizuku - didn't bother avoiding the attack. Because her family was once a part of the Hozuki clan in the Hidden Mist Village, she could make use of their _Hydrification Technique_ to transform her body into water to nullify most physical attacks.

As Shizuku's body slammed into a tree due to the force of the attack, she dispersed into scores of water pellets before reforming on the ground. Setsuna and Gitai joined Shizuku on the ground to take up formation to meet their attackers wherever they struck from.

To their collective surprise, only two Leaf shinobi appeared from the tree tops to meet them.

Shizuku snorted at the opponents ahead of them. "Two piddling Leaf Chunin? Konoha must be strapped for cash if this is all they could deploy to counter us."

The spikey-haired blonde clothed in a black uniform jacket ignored her displeasure and simply said, "Turn back now or you're not making it out of here alive."

Gitai glared at the young ninja standing ahead of him and said, "You think you can take us? We have been granted access to the dark chakra of Mōryō himself."

This time the Leaf-nin dressed in green spandex said, "Regardless, it's as my friend here said. It's our mission to stop you here. Make your decision."

Setsuna answered for them by activating his Wind technique.

 _Wind Release: Divine Mountain Wind!_

The jutsu launched a strong vortex air at the 2 Leaf Chunin who swiftly avoided it by running to the opposite sides of the attack. Gitai and Shizuku took the opportunity to engage Lee and Naruto respectively.

Naruto appeared in front of the white-clothed kunoichi in a flash and delivered a strong punch to her gut, hoping to incapacitate her quickly. The moment his fist made contact with her, she once again turned into water to avoid damage.

After she jumped back to put some distance between them, Shizuku began to laugh maniacally. "Is that all you've got blondie? If that's all I'm gonna get there's no point in dragging this out!"

Naruto was surprised as her skin began to turn white as snow, with a few blue markings appearing on her face as well.

"Now that's I've tapped into the power granted by the great demon Mōryō, all hopes you had of winning have gone up in smoke," she said arrogantly.

Naruto continued to look at her with an unconcerned expression as he mulled over her abilities.

' _It's true she increased her chakra some, but it's not as powerful as she seems to think. I'm more concerned about the Water jutsu she used. If physical force isn't going to cut it, I'll need to change things up to help Lee out against those other two.'_

 _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

As Naruto's doppelganger appeared in a puff of smoke, the kunoichi looked on in curiosity.

' _It doesn't matter if you use Wind Release attacks on me, I'll just liquify,'_ Shizuku thought.

After executing the required hand signs, Naruto used _Fire Release: Flame Bullet_ to send a large fireball at the kunoichi from the Land of Demons.

Shizuku smirked. Although fire could evaporate water, it took a much stronger level of attack to overcome the _Hydrification Technique_. Since she had Moryo's chakra to amplify her abilities, Shizuku decided to show him what a real Fire Release technique looked like.

 _Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!_

Shizuku's jutsu launched a dragon-shaped projectile of flames into the path of her opponent's oncoming attack. As the technique's collided, Shizuku was surprised that hers wasn't overpowering the opposing jutsu.

' _How is this possible? Mōryō's chakra should let me cream a guy of this level, no sweat. There's no way his chakra could be stronger than mine!'_

However, as soon the blonde Lear-nin blurred through a few hand sign and produced a stream of wind from each of his palms to amplify his own technique, Shizuku realized she had bitten off more than she could chew…

Meanwhile, Lee had been engaging the remaining 2 Demon-nin in high-speed close combat. After trading a few blows to get a feel for his opponents skills, Lee kicked away Gitai so that he could quickly eliminate the weaker shinobi first so as to give the greater threat his full attention.

" _Leaf Whirlwind!"_

Lee quickly transitioned from the high kick feint into a low kick when Setsuna attempted to avoid it. There was the satisfying snap of a broken knee when Lee's low-kick made contact.

"Gah!" Setsuna cried out as he fell to the ground in pain, clutching his now useless leg.

' _One down, one to go,'_ Lee thought.

Turning toward his remaining opponent, Lee pointed his hand forward with his right palm facing upwards.

The white-haired Gitai laughed at the sight of his injured teammate. "You're pathetic Setsuna. It should have been obvious this guy's taijutsu would surpass yours. Use Mōryō-sama's chakra to heal up while I take this guy down."

To weaken the effectiveness of his opponent's skill in taijutsu, Gitai used _Earth Release: Hardening Technique_ to encased himself in a large stone armor.

"It's too bad kid, this armor renders your Taijutsu useless."

Undeterred, Lee replied "We shall see about that!" Lee quickly removed his obscenely heavy ankle weights to boost his speed and kicking power.

Using his incredible speed, Lee appeared behind his opponent, who couldn't react fast enough due to the added weight of his technique.

" _Leaf Rising Wind!"_ Lee shouted as he sent his opponent skyward with a powerful kick. Despite Gitai's great weight, Lee's strength had been honed to a high level thanks to Gai's extreme training.

After quickly opening the first of the Eight Gates, Lee used _Shadow of the Dancing Leaf_ and stayed hidden within his foe's shadow as he jumped to meet him in the air. He then used his chakra to manipulate the bandages covering his hand and had them constrict Gitai as he reached the apex of his flight.

 _Front Lotus!_

As Lee and Gitai fell, Lee forced them into a rapidly spinning piledriver. The man's impact on the ground caused the earth beneath them to split open violently, cascading Earth and dust to be thrown out in all directions as Gitai was flung deep into the ground.

Unsurprisingly, opening up the First Gate left Lee feeling somewhat winded. An ordinary shinobi would be utterly drained from the strain involved, but Gai helped Lee acclimate to the side-effects of opening the Gates, as much as was possible in any case.

The hole Gitai was in began to tremor before the man jumped out of his would-be grave. Disturbingly, the man had undergone some sort of transformation which gave him 3 connected heads and multiple sets of arms.

"I told you kid, you don't stand a chance in this fight. That technique wasn't too bad, but if that's all you've got you're barely worth my time!" Gitai arrogantly asserted. "Mōryō-sama's chakra is unbeatable!"

As Lee again resume the stance he took when unlocking a Gate, he said "Don't underestimate the power of youth! I've much to give, so don't say I didn't warn you!"

Little did Gitai realize just how powerful Lee could become by unlocking a few of his Gates and using a certain fighting style Gai helped him consciously master over the last couple of years...

* * *

 **(Land of Swamps, a Few Kilometers from Mōryō's Sealed Chamber)**

Neji had recently dispatched the remaining shinobi from the Land of Demons who attempted to ambush them in a desperate attempt to kill Shion before she reached the volcano Mōryō was within. However, Neji spotted the huge stone army that had caught the attention of Konoha in the first place.

"Neji," Sakura asked, "how close are we to the chamber, and where is that stone army?"

The chamber is about 3 kilometers north of here. That army is about 2 kilometers west of our position. Thankfully, the temporary alliance between the Leaf and Sand with the Hidden Rock Village is keeping them occupied."

The Priestess seemed mildly surprised that the villages in question could work together, even if it were against a common enemy.

"I'm surprised the Leaf and Rock could manage to cooperate given their history. If only they could show such consideration the the minor nations the tear through during their wars."

Neji and Sakura eyed each other awkwardly. What exactly does one say to _that_. Sakura suddenly remembered Naruto making a similar comment awhile back, but shelved it due to present concerns.

Quickly, the 2 Leaf ninja and the priestess made the rest of the trip so that Shion could get to work.

As they entered the hole cut into the side of the mountain that served as the entrance, the supposedly dormant volcano began to rumble, signifying some definitely unwanted activity within it.

"Damn!" Shion shouted. "Whoever was carrying Mōryō's spirit must be undoing the seal! If we hurry, I can reverse the process."

Upon entering the chamber proper, the trio saw the middle-aged, raven-haired man going through a long, archaic chain of hand seals, evidently to undo the sealing technique that prevented Mōryō's soul from reuniting with his body. The target of his technique was obvious when looking at the center of the chamber.

Within was a massive stone embedded in the center of the previously dormant volcano, which now had magma creeping up from within the depths of the earth. The huge stone in questioned was surrounded by a huge number of strange sealing tags, presumably having kept the demon's power in check. But Yomi was clearly negating that, seeing as a sinister purple chakra was beginning to spill out from the rock.

"Neji, attack him so I can put a stop to this lunacy while he's distracted!" Shion urged in a whisper.

Nodding, Neji used his impressive speed and ran at top speed to the dark medic-nin, Yomi.

 _Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!_

Striking at the man's tenketsu at almost imperceptible speeds, Neji managed to stop the flow of the man's chakra before he could finish the final few hand seals of his unsealing technique.

Because of his Byakugan, Neji observed that the foul, foreign chakra within Yomi's chakra network was now trapped between his blocked tenketsu, preventing it from being released by Yomi.

' _So that's Mōryō? This Yomi was willing to turn himself into some sort of quasi-Jinchūriki just to release a demon?'_

"Kyuh!" Yomi gasped as his chakra was unexpectedly blocked. "Gods damn it, I was so close…" he muttered bitterly as he fell to the ground, having lost most of his strength due to the secret Hyūga technique.

Neji breathed a sigh of relief. "Made it just in time…"

All the while, Shion had been using a seal her mother had devised should Mōryō's seal begin to fail. After coating her hands in salt she had brought along and washing it off with water from her canteen, Shion started molding her chakra through the use of a series of non-standard hand signs. She began to execute a Sealing Jutsu that no one else within the religious caste could make use of.

 _Harai Purification Seal!_

Despite the name, the seal wasn't capable of cleansing Mōryō directly. Rather, the technique caused the myriad sealing tags from her mother's previous seal to begin glowing with an ethereal white light.

Once the technique was completed, it would prevent anyone with ill-intent from approaching the sealed chamber, and use the demon's own chakra to power the seal so as to prevent it from degrading over time. However, the seal could not be placed unless Mōryō's chakra had begun leaking from the old seal, which it had only recently begun to do. Shion's mother Miroku had planned to weaken the seal slightly so that she could place the 'Harai' seal, but her injuries from the initial battle with the demon took her life before she could return to place it.

' _I've almost got it…'_ Shion thought.

But before the priestess could bring the seal to completion, the previously immobile Yomi threw his body into the area Mōryō's body was sealed within.

With the remained her his strength, Yomi shouted "For the glory of my lord, I offer my life to ensure his revival!" The man then slit his own throat using a kunai, allowing Mōryō's spirit to escape the confines of his useless body now that his chakra network had become inert.

The demon's purplish spiritual energy escaped from Yomi's unmoving former and entered the cracked seal on restraining his body.

Neji, Shion and Sakura swore, realizing they had failed the mission. A moment later, the chamber began to tremor greatly and more magma began oozing up .

Suddenly, a large number of long, draconic heads sprang up from within the seal, destroying what was left of it in the process.

"At last that wretched Shrine Seal is gone! Once again the world will tremble at the might of Mōryō!" the demon roared.

As Mōryō's chakra flared up, the trio became nervous. However, Shion was far more affected by the power of the demon's chakra and its Killing Intent than Neji and Sakura were. She began to shiver a bit at the presence before her.

"H-how are you two shrugging off his power like that? I've exorcised smaller, local demons before and felt their power, but nothing like this!" she said in exasperation. The demon's chakra caused an increase in her respiration, and her body felt oddly numbed and stuttery.

"Well, we've been around the power of a demon with a lot more power than this guy has," Sakura said. "His chakra is annoying, but both it and his killing intent aren't as supreme as he thinks."

Neji nodded at Sakura's comments, causing Shion to wonder just what the Leaf ninja had come up against.

"Even so Sakura, how are we going to fight this thing?" Neji asked seriously. "I specialize in close and mid-range combat. I don't have the kind of large scale attacks needed to fight something like this."

"I bet this guy has a high regenerative ability as well, given his body appears to be mostly composed of chakra. I could summon Katsuyu-sama, but all this magma would cause her to de-summon before she could do enough damage," Sakura said.

Neji then said, "Radio in Naruto, this kind of fight suits him best."

Shion spoke up, saying "Don't forget about me; I'm not a high priestess for nothing! If you can keep Mōryō off of me for a couple of minutes, I can help bring this guy down," Shion said confidently as she grasped at a strange bell pinned to her outfit.

As Sakura called for Naruto to get a move on, Neji stepped in front of Shion as she began to chant, causing the strange bell now in her hands to glow in a bright purple light.

Having finished gloating, Mōryō turned its attention back to the puny humans before it, preparing to annihilate them and then the rest of the Shinobi world afterward.

* * *

1) I will be using the same map Eroninja for my fic. Most countries won't really be touched on, so this map is reference if you have a hard time understanding where things are:

thelemonsage{dot}deviantart{dot}com/art/Naruto-World-Map-Eroninja-as-of-chapter-80-631358330

* * *

 **(A/N):** Thanks for reading, let me know what you think in a review! And I'm REALLY sorry about this being so late. Life has been stupid hectic and irritating for the last month. And it's ongoing, sadly. :-(

I wasn't too sure about the quality of this chapter. Part of me wonders of I rushed it, and if I'm doing my worldbuilding well enough. I set up a number of things, such as:

-Hiruko's actions at obtaining various Kekkei Genkai (he will mostly be getting canon KG, not the most of the nonsense he got in the movie)

-Some of Orochimaru's future actions (can anyone guess who his backup is? Hehe)

-Sasuke has been sleeping with a girl (I find it about impossible to believe that an attractive heterosexual teen who has girls all over him was never have sex with them because "MY DESIRE FOR REVENGE NERFS MY BONER!")

-Some of the animosity those from minor nations would have for those from the 5 Great Nations.

Etc.

I decided to start with "Naruto Shippūden the Movie" first, simply because it would allow me to build up to Hiruko in "Inheritors of The Will of Fire", which will be the next movie covered after an in between chapter or 2. Figured it would be more interesting since Hiruko is rather like Orochimaru, at least in terms of his end goal of attaining a perfect body. And since the first movie can be placed pretty flexibly, I went there first. That's not to say everything will be placed the same as in canon. After all, the movie with Hiruko occurred after Asuma's death, but that's not when I'm placing it.

I also decided to change up the events of the first Shippūden movie somewhat. Some things were just stupid, such as Shion's mother Miroku not letting Shion be taught ninjutsu because apparently she could become worse than Moryo. Come on. That idiocy caused Shion's "Shrine Seal" (I gave it a different, Shinto-y name in the fic) to fail since Moryo had more chakra than her. I also used this chapter as an opportunity to build on the nature of demons in Naruto.

I always thought it was infuriatingly stupid how Kishimoto handled the Tailed Beasts in canon. I was fine when we were told they were the Tailed Beasts, and even when we were told they were once a single being. But apparently they were the result of some kind of seeding and really came from the resulting magic tree. -_- In this fic, as will be expanded on later, the Tailed Beasts are bona fide demons. That doesn't mean they're evil or impossible to change though.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

(End here if you don't care for responses to guest reviews).

 **To an unmamed Guest Who Posted a long, dishonest screed:** I deleted your 2 reviews because they were massive copy-paste jobs from some junk on TVTropes that were too long to bother with. The examples your gave were either perfect examples of Kishimoto not developing his writing because they had zero precedent (Kiba telling Naruto not to show-off in front of Hinata; when did that ever happen previously) or you simply ignored parts of canon that you didn't like (Naruto outright saying to Sai that he was in love with Sakura but couldn't tell her). I mean the fact that the anime staff produced a filler episode where (post Pain Arc and thus post Hinata confession) Naruto tells the filler character Shizuka that he's in love with Sakura makes it clear that even the staff didn't realize that Kishimoto had such set designs on the shipping. Hell, unless I'm mistaken, even Kishimoto's wife didn't realize he was going to end with NaruHina, so spare me some nonsense about how Hinata had a ton of screen time. She was barely around and pretending otherwise is silly. It's not like I argued that NaruSaku was some brilliantly developed romance, it's just the only one that had any development or mention to speak of before the end, when apparently "Thank you" meant "I love you", and "I said I'm in love with X and have barely spoken to Y" meant "I'm actually in love with Y, X is just a rivalry thing". Also, your information is wrong, Sakura was more popular than Hinata (at least in some respects). Sakura's highest spot in the official popularity polls was 5th most popular character in the series at some point, while Hinata's highest was 6th.

(Last time I respond to something so ridiculous. Who cares who was more popular when it was done poorly anyway?).

This will be my last response to anything shipping related, unless I think someone is asking me an honest question (just DM me if so): You can like whatever ship you want. Each of us like characters and pairings for reasons that make sense to us (maybe we like the character designs or their interactions or something). I won't ever mock someone for that, even if I don't like it. I wrote this because of my issues with Shippūden, not because of an inherent dislike of Hinata. So it'd be nice if random groups of people wouldn't flame my story, thanks~ I didn't really enjoy the random flame after last chapter.


	8. Chapter 8: A Jinchūriki & A Priestess

**(A/N):** I'd like to thank **Devon the Shipper** for pointing out an error I made last chapter. I misread the Naruto Wiki as saying 1 yen was equal to 10 ryo, but it's the opposite. So sometime later I will go back and correct the currency stuff I bungled on the previous chapter, haha.

Also, tell me what you think about the new cover art! I got it from **RinM** over on DeviantArt and just upscaled it, cleaned it and added a background that mixed yellow and pink a bit. Go send some love! **rinam{dot}deviantart{dot}com/art/NaruSaku-colour-402758198**

* * *

Lee was facing a difficult battle. Although he currently had the upper hand due to the fighting style he was currently using, his opponent's Demonic Spider Armor was a tough nut to crack, even with the added power of 2 Gates being released. His opponent could set incendiary bombs into the ground when his fists impacted it, making dodging a liability as well, seeing as keeping track of the explosives was not easy. He had put some distance between himself and Gitai to catch his breath.

"Come on you spandex-wearing meathead. I expected more from someone who can open their Gates!" Gitai shouted as he slammed his earth-covered fist into a tired Lee's stomach after appearing in front of his using a _Body Flicker_. "But I guess there's only so much added power can do for a failed shinobi."

Having been knocked back a few dozen feet by the monstrous-looking man's assault, Lee was on his hands and knees panting.

' _It seems I'm still far from attaining Mushin, Gai-sensei!' Lee thought. 'But you told me the Drunken Fist was the key to Awakening my true potential, and you've never let me down before!'_

Lee stood shakily onto his feet and assumed a stance from the Drunken Fist and began to clear his mind so as to enter the appropriate state of mind for the taijutsu style in question.

' _Let's open more Gates with it this time. 3rd Gate, Gate of Life: Release!'_

Immediately, Lee's skin began to darken to a reddish hue due to the greatly increased blood flow caused by opening the 3rd Gate. Accompanying this was a huge upsurge in chakra as Lee became coated in a bright green aura of chakra.

His sudden change caused Gitai to laugh. "You're not the only one who can power-up in battle!" Gitai began emitting his own purple aura as he released all the demonic chakra he had received from Moryo. Although Gitai's current level of Earth armor was formidable and his transformation gave him 3 pairs of arms, his larger weight and size made it impossible for him keep up with Lee as the Leaf Chunin used his newfound power to circle around Gitai at imperceptible speeds.

Whenever Gitai was close to hitting Lee, Lee would avoid it using the unpredictable movements used by practitioners of the Drunken Fist, frustrating the foreign ninja even further. Lee was attempting to use the man's attacks as a chance to get his body to avoid injury on pure instinct to enter the state Gai has told him about. However, he still found it extremely difficult to dodge and fight without falling back on specific techniques to avoid the rock covered limbs of Gitai; it was practically antithetical to martial arts to do otherwise. Relying on alcohol to put him in that state of mind was… unreliable at best.

"Grrr, enough of these silly taijutsu games. _Fire Release: Running Fire!_ "

As the name suggests, Gitai's technique caused streams of fire to circle around himself as a means of keeping Lee from moving around Gitai so freely. However, Lee had been waiting for Gitai to make such a move in frustration and blitzed in front of the man the moment he activate his Fire Release jutsu.

' _It's time to end this. 4th Gate, Gate of Pain: Release! 5th Gate, Gate of Limit: Release!'_

As the respective Gates in his spinal cord and abdomen released even more chakra to allow him to bust through Gitai's own chakra aura, Lee nailed the middle head of Gitai's 3 heads with a powerful uppercut, once again sending the enemy-nin skyward.

While Gitai was flying upward, Lee ascended alongside him and delivered an incredible barrage of punches and kicks break up most of his rock armor. Then, he once again used the bandages on his own arms to wrap up Gitai to prevent him from escaping.

But rather than use the same finisher as before, Lee delivered a powerful open-handed strike at the same time as he landed a devastating kick. The impact of these simultaneous strikes sent Gitai flying at the ground so hard that his weakened body splattered into a gory mess upon reaching the ground.

' _Not my prettiest win but a win nonetheless. One day I'll manage to enter Mushin, Gai-sensei!'_ Lee declared with tears flowing from his eyes as he pointed toward the sunset, despite it being early in the afternoon.

As Gitai's soul entered the Pure Land, he swore he could see a sunset background behind the Leaf Chunin as he teared up at whatever was on his mind…

Meanwhile, Naruto was having an easier time of it thanks to his recent mastery of Wind Release. In order to counter his own Wind and Fire Combination Techniques, the remaining 2 shinobi from the Land of Demons were combining Wind and Water techniques to create strong concussive streams of water. There were several near misses and even once where they managed to get a glancing blow on the blonde Jinchuriki left shoulder.

However unlike Naruto, the 2 ninja lacked high stamina and were as wasteful with their chakra as Naruto had been a few years earlier, seeing as they insisted on consistently sending elemental techniques at him every available opportunity.

As Setsuna and Shizuku missed the slippery Konoha ninja once again, they both bent over gasping for breath as they realized just how much chakra they had wasted trying to kill just one enemy.

"Stand still and take it blondie!" Shizuku yelled in annoyance.

Naruto shrugged and replied cheekily "The rest of us can't turn into a puddle so no thanks. Besides, only an idiot uses up all their chakra like that."

Right then, the wireless earpiece on Naruto's left ear came to life with Sakura's voice, which said "Naruto, do you copy? Over."

Pressing the button on his radio, Naruto said "Loud on clear, Sakura. What's up? Over," he said in his usual upbeat tone of voice.

"The guy with Moryo's soul managed to return it to its body and we need someone with strong ranged attacks to fight it until Shion can join in. Neji's keeping her safe but there's no telling how long he can hold out. Over," she said.

"All right, I'll be there in a few, I'm wrapping things up now," Naruto said in a serious tone.

Turning his attention back to his foes who seemed to have slightly recovered, Naruto said "Seems I don't need to hold you guys up anymore. Playtime is over, I'll be taking down this Moryo guy next."

The two ninja began to laugh at his declaration. Setsuna sobered up first and said "You believe you can destroy Moryo-sama? Children just don't know when they're in over their heads I suppose. Moryo's demonic power can't be matched by a mere human."

Naruto smirked in response and said "Well I've never heard of this demon so I doubt he's as powerful as you guys seem to think. Besides, I've got a far stronger demon sealed within me, so I think I'll manage."

This information surprised the 2, but before they could properly process what Naruto meant the 2 were pulled underground up to their necks.

"Gah!"

"The hell?!"

2 Shadow Clones of Naruto's popped out of the ground beside Setsuna and Shizuku to observe their handy work.

Naruto laughed before saying "Whew, Kakashi-sensei was right . This _Headhunter Jutsu_ is priceless! Anyway," Naruto pointed at his clones and continued, "you 2 know the drill. I'm off!"

Naruto's clones nodded and the original sped off to assist his teammates. The clones turned back to the still struggling Setsuna and Shizuku, smiling.

"Well," said Clone #1, "I guess this is it."

"Bon voyage!" said Clone #2.

Standing in front of the last 2 shinobi, the clones exploded and killed the 2 buried enemies as the dual fireballs consumed their bodies.

* * *

As Naruto quickly made his way toward his volcanic destination in the distance, he radioed in to Lee to join up with the forces who were repelling Moryo's stone army before they could leave the Land of Swamps and begin terrorizing neighboring nations.

After having done so, Naruto entered his mindscape to request some information by someone in the know. As the dank, flooded boiler room came into focus within his consciousness, Naruto walked up to the massive cage within the room.

"Oi, Kyu-chan. Could I ask you something?" Naruto shouted.

From behind the bars of the cage came an annoyed grumbling sound. The source was the Nine-Tailed Fox, who was laying down and resting its head on its massive paws. The Nine-Tails responded, "I might be more inclined to answer if you could show some respect for once..."

Naruto clasped his hands together and dropped into a deep bow. "Oh mighty Kyuubi-sama, would you please help this humble human?" he said in faux reverence.

The demon fox rolled its eyes before saying, "Alright enough being a smart-ass. What do you want, kid?"

Naruto stood up and said, "Could you tell me anything about this Moryo guy?"

"Hmph, you think all demons know each other or something?" the Nine-Tails said sarcastically.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Har har. No i just wondered if you knew anything, I've never heard anything about this guy before."

"Hm, I've never met Moryo before, not in the form I'm in currently in any case."

" _In that form_? What do you mean, did you look different before?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Ignoring his second round of questions, the Nine-Tails said "From what I recall, Moryo was an arrogant demon despite being of lesser stature than one such as I. He can increase in power somewhat if his opponent's heart is clouded by negative emotions. But even then, he would perhaps reach half of Shukaku's power at most."

Naruto nodded and continued, "Does he have any special attacks I should watch out for?"

"Hah, he sticks to the tried and true method blasting his foes away with beams of chakra and he can multiply his number of heads at will. Aside from that and his pathetic army, he's nothing to write home about for someone like you," he said.

"What do mean for someone like me?" Naruto asked.

The Nine-Tails yawned before saying, "Since you've been exposed to my powerful demonic chakra even as far back as your conception within your mother, you're not adversely affected by such chakra unless in quantities possessed by a Tailed Beast." As the Nine-Tails continued speaking, Naruto couldn't help but feel like he was being lectured at like in his Academy days, so his attention began to slip away a bit...

"Oi, you better still be paying attention!" the Nine-Tails said, having notice Naruto's concentration was breaking.

"Hehe sorry. You were talking for awhile there."

"Bah, ingrate," Kyuubi said in a huff. "As I was saying, someone like that priestess would have a tougher time if the only experience she has is exorcising minor demons. Even if it's a small amount of chakra for someone of my level, being surrounded by that level of power and malice can cause one to falter and weaken her effectiveness in battle."

Naruto nodded his head and prepared to exit his mental representation of the seal. Before he left, he looked up at the Nine-Tails and said with a smile, "Thanks for the help!"

After Naruto left, the Nine-Tails said quietly, "No problem, kid."

* * *

Although the main attraction was whatever was going on within the now-active volcano, Kakashi kept his attention firmly on the large stone army in front of him. In the valley next to Moryo's sealing chamber was the demon's army. The army had split into 2 groups, with one heading north through the valley and the other heading in the opposite direction, presumably to conquer more efficiently.

Although in small groups the stone warriors could be destroyed with a moderately strong elemental technique, their sheer numbers made eliminating all of them using elemental techniques challenging given the chakra requirements.

That is, until Kakashi sent a Shadow Clone to contact the 2 Iwagakure platoons who were engaging the other half of the stone army north of the company of Konoha and Suna shinobi under his command. After informing the Iwa shinobi of his idea on how to expedite the elimination of their common enemy, his clone dissipated to send him its memories.

Kakashi turned to his second in command and said, "It seems Iwa is in agreement with our plan to speed things up here. Although one of their… spunkier kunoichi was pretty against it at first."

Temari nodded her head, grateful that the bad blood between the Leaf and Rock wasn't impeding common sense. "So how should we get the opposing force into position?" asked the Suna jonin.

"As you noted, these stone soldiers appear to operate more like mindless automata rather than sentient beings. That should help us since their responses to attack will be rather simple," Kakashi began. "Each of our sides will soon send a number of competent Earth users to dig a huge pit in the middle of the army."

Temari caught on and continued his thought, saying "And then use a barrage of Earth and Water techniques to flush each side back into the pit, correct?"

Kakashi nodded. "We're also going to create inclines on each side so that gravity can assist us as well. Then once their helpless we'll crush them quickly."

Another Suna kunoichi standing nearby spoke up. "I wouldn't mind being part of that last part. I've been too cooped up back at home; it'd be nice to take out my frustrations on these drones."

Temari turned to the woman and said teasingly "Come on Pakura, there's plenty to go around. No need to get antsy."

The green-haired Suna jonin mumbled, "You'd be antsy too if you were almost kidnapped and then put on a forced vacation..."

Kakashi interrupted before they got too sidetracked, saying "I'll go inform Yamato to get ready. He's one of our best Earth Release users. Get ready you two."

"Yes sir!" they replied seriously.

 **[10 Minutes Later]**

After the Leaf sent up a red flare to indicate that they ready to proceed, an Iwa kunoichi shouted, "About damn time!"

Kitsuchi patted her shoulder and said, "Kurotsuchi, you should calm down. They are right not to rush things, it could lead to disaster to charge in headstrong. We're vastly outnumbered here, so we needed to wait for our "

"Tch, I know that dad. Anyway, since our team is in position…" the black-haired teen pulled out a flare of her own and shot it skyward to acknowledge their own readiness.

"Alright soldiers, let 'em have it!" Kitsuchi shouted to the roughly 200 Iwa shinobi under his command.

To set the stage, Kitsuchi and his daughter combined their efforts to form a large scale Earth technique to incline the area the stone warriors were marching down.

 _Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart!_

As the ground in front of the Iwa force grew into a steep incline, the stone soldiers that had been nearing their position began to stumble and fall backwards, knocking many if their fellows backwards like dominoes. A similar scene occured on the Konoha and Suna side of the battlefield.

However, since they were shinobi they could stick to the steep ground with their chakra. Both sides then began using the appropriate Earth and Water techniques to wash the now helpless stone soldiers back into the large pit the 3 villages had dug out with their jutsu.

 _Earth Release: Mudslide!_ came by the dozen from the Iwa side. Their jutsu send a huge wave of dirt and mud down the newly created incline, pushing back the weighty stone soldiers who began to spill into the deep pit.

 _Earth Release: Mud Flow River!_ came several from the other side. They were assisted by a dozens of Leaf and Sand shinobi using Water techniques assist in creating a suitably large mudslide to wash back those on their end into the pit as well.

Kakashi then turned some of the top elemental users among his platoons and said "Alright, gather along our side of the pit and put 'em down!"

As the Leaf and Sand raced down the wet terrain, Pakura and Temari kept at the front of the group. When they reached the edge of the pit, they looked down and were surprised to see just how deep it was.

' _That's at least a few hundred feet deep!'_ Pakura thought. ' _Well considering how many of these guys there are I guess they had no choice. It had to be deep enough to contain all the mud and water as well.'_

Temari got things started by slicing through a number of those on top using her _Great Sickle Weasel Technique_. Although it made a dent, it was nowhere near what was needed, as a number of the stone figures began to climb up the walls of their prison in an attempt to escape.

Pakura smirked at the slightly younger kunoichi and said "I'll show you how it's done."

After molding a significant amount of chakra, Pakura produced several large flaming orbs and combined them into a single massive orbs several meters in diameter. She then sent her attack down into the pit and shouted, "Cover the pit, quickly!"

 _Scorch Release: Incinerating Flare Technique!_

Yamato responded immediately and user _Earth-Style Rampart_ to close over the 50-foot wide pit. It was a good thing too, as a few moments the ground in the area began to rumble considerably as Pakura's attack detonated.

Yamato looked at the Suna jonin annoyedly and said "You could give us a little more notice ya know!"

Temari just "hmph"ed and muttered something that sounded like "Show off", while Pakura just shrugged amusedly, despite breathing heavily due to using so much chakra for one attack.

* * *

Back within the volcano, Neji was begin to run out of steam. Shion was taking longer than expected to remove the seal that had been place on her, preventing her from fighting. She appeared to be screwing up at the chant she needed to speak as she molded her chakra appropriately. There were only so many times Neji could use his _Revolving Heaven_ to deflect Moryo's chakra blasts before he collapsed from exhaustion.

Just then, a welcome voice called out from behind them, "Never fear, Naruto Uzumaki is here!"

"It's about time!" Sakura called out in exasperation.

Naruto put up his hands in surrender and said "Hey hey, I had two of those enemy-nin holding me up. They were annoying, to be honest."

Sakura shook her head at him and got down to business. "Naruto, we need you to hold off that demon so Shion can concentrate. You have the best chance at holding him off, and I need to heal Neji."

Naruto nodded and walked over to Shion first. "I know you're busy with something, but I need to ask you something."

Shion stopped her chanting and look at Naruto with an irritated expression. " _What is it_."

"In this vision of yours, how did I go out?" he asked curiously.

Shion looked at him strangely before saying, "Well, we were fighting Moryo obviously. You jumped into the air to attack his heads when one of them knocked you into the ground. Then a bunch of them combined their chakra blasts and reduced you to ash..." she said sadly.

Naruto nodded and asked "And then?"

"Then Moryo gloated about how victorious he was before firing the same blasts at me..." Shion finished sadly, still rather taken aback by her most recent vision.

Naruto smirked before saying, "Interesting." Noting Shion's waning composure, Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "Hey don't worry about it. There's no way we'll lose to a chump like this guy. As long as you can trust in my strength and I trust in yours, we can take this guy down."

Her fellow blonde raced off passed Neji to take Moryo on himself, and thus missed the blush that Shion sported at his words. Moryo's heads looked at Naruto as if he were simply another speck to eliminate at his whim.

 _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

4 more Narutos appeared around the original and proceeded to attack Moryo's various heads with a combination of Fire techniques and kunai with exploding tags attached to them. The Fire techniques were used to cancel out the demon's chakra blasts while the explosions were used to annoy Moryo and keep its attention on Naruto while Shion undid her seal. However, Naruto was having a tough time of it since Moryo had many more heads than the number of clones Naruto made.

Noticing the bind Naruto was in, Shion thought ' _Come on Shion, are you the high priestess or not?!'_

After taking a deep breath, Shion cleared her mind and began to chant the _Amatsu Norito_ and flawlessly went through the proper steps to mold her chakra _._

Shion raised her head and clapped three times and then then raised her head, clapped three more times, bowed twice with her hands together, and then bowed again.

Then she raised her head and clasped her hands together as she recited the necessary prayer: **(1)**

 _Taka-ma-ga-hara ni kanzu-mari masu_

 _Kamurogi Kamuromi no mikoto mochite_

 _Sume-mi-oya kamu Izanagi-no-Mikoto_

 _Tsukushi no Himuka no Tachihana no_

 _Odo no Ahagi-hara ni_

 _Misogi harai tamaishi toki ni nari maseru_

 _haraedo no ō-kami-tachi_

 _Moro-moro no magagoto tsumi kegare o_

 _Harai tamae kiyome tamae to_

 _Maosu koto no yoshi o_

 _Amatsu-kami kunitsu-kami_

 _ya-ho yorozu no kami-tachi tomo ni_

 _Ame no fuchi koma no mimi furitatete_

 _kikoshimese to_

 _Kashikomi kashikomi mo maosu..._

The gods heard Shion's prayer and, in recognition of the pure hearted intent behind awakening her powers, they broke the seal her mother Miroku placed upon her as a child.

 _Omamori Unseal: Priestess Mode!_

Shion's body abruptly began to expel a huge amount of chakra as her body took on an angelic appearance. Her hair began to float upwards and framed the side of her head in a shape that resembled an angel's wings, while a halo-like apparition made of chakra appeared above her head. A number of tribal markings appeared on her skin as well, trailing from her face and down her torso as well.

The boost in chakra caused everyone within the chamber to look toward Shion in shock.

' _She looks kinda hot...'_ Neji thought with a slight blush adorning his face, before quickly schooling his features. He had a reputation to uphold and Gai would never be able to keep quiet about it if word got out.

Naruto was the first to recover and shouted "Now let him have it!"

Shion nodded. "With pleasure!" She then began firing her own bright beams of chakra at Moryo's various heads, severing several of them.

"Bah! Damn Priestess, this isn't over!" the demon shouted. Several heads sprouted up from within the confines of the old seal and began to concentrate their attacks on Shion. But thanks to her current transformation, her speed had increase enough to let her dodge them expertly, ducking and leaping away from them the moment the chakra blasts were fired.

Noticing Moryo focusing on who it perceived to be the bigger threat, Naruto began to enact his plan. After dispelling 3 of his 4 remaining Shadow Clones to regain their remaining chakra, Naruto acted in accordance to what Shion had seen by jumping into the air to attack a group of the demon's draconic heads.

"Hey ugly, don't forget about me!" he shouted in midair as he destroyed 2 of the heads with his _Flame Bullet_. In retaliation, one of the heads slammed into Naruto, sending him careening into the rocky ground below.

"So little hero, if you wish to die first then so be it!" Moryo said gleefully. Several of his heads took aim at Naruto and fired burst of purple chakra at Naruto.

Shion saw her vision beginning to come to fruition and shouted "Naruto!"

The beams of purple chakra hit Naruto's location and exploded. Once it cleared, Shion could see no sign of Naruto at all, causing the priestess to fall to her knees in defeat.

"It can't be… he said he could change it..." she said in a dead tone of voice.

As Moryo began to gloat about what he had done, Shion heard a familiar voice say behind her, "Psst, Shion."

The priestess nearly screamed at the voice, recognizing it as Naruto's. However, an unseen hand covered her mouth to muffle the sound. Once she had calmed down, Naruto said, "I'm just a Shadow Clone. The boss had me turn invisible to give you a warning."

"A warning about what?" she asked, just barely resisting the urge to give him a hug despite worrying her like that.

"That no matter what you see him do, remember that he's on your side. So, uh, don't attack him if you don't mind, hehe. While the boss keeps him distracted, hit Moryo with everything you've got!"

Shion nodded and heard the telltale sound of a Shadow Clone poofing. Suddenly, the chamber became filled with the killing intent of another demonic presence, one far surpassing what Moryo was putting out.

"What the hell?!" Shion said. Several meters to her right, the original Naruto appeared using his high speed. A strange red chakra began to pour from his body. The chakra was causing the air in the chamber to feel incredibly oppressive and dark; Shion had begun breathing rather heavily in its presence. As more of it continued to come out, it began to take on the vague shape of some sort of animal with two tails.

' _What is that? That chakra feels demonic, but I've never felt anything like this before! I-is he even human?'_ she asked to herself.

Sakura ran up to the priestess and tapped her shoulder. "I really hate it when he uses that, but we still have to believe in him, Shion-sama," Sakura said in a confident tone of voice, even if it scared her to see it.

Shion turned to the Leaf Chunin and said, "B-but what is that? That chakra's demonic presence is terrifying..."

"Naruto is a Jinchuriki, he had a Tailed Beast sealed within him," Sakura explained.

Shion was surprised. She had heard of people sealing demon's in others to increase their power, but she never thought she'd see proof of it for herself.

' _Wait, does this mean it would be sacrilegious for Naruto and I to date?'_ Shion asked to herself.

Moryo was beginning to freak out. The chakra before him was more powerful than any he had seen in ages. He had left the demonic realm decades back, but he recalled the feeling of the Juubi's chakra in the ancient past all too well.

' _This is impossible. Juubi-sama went missing millennia ago, there's no way he could be here in the world of humans...'_ Moryo thought. But there was no other explanation, this chakra definitely felt like it's chakra, though oddly it was only putting out a small amount of it. Then there was the fact that its chakra was within a human…

This sudden realization caused Moryo to begin laughing at Naruto with all of his heads, causing the Jinchuriki to frown.

"To think I'd find the _all-mighty_ Ten-Tails trapped within the body of a human, haha!" he said in ecstasy. "In that form I can kill you as easily as any other man."

Naruto raised a brow and said questioningly, "Ten-Tails? Who? I have the Nine-Tails within me, that's as high as they go."

Moryo ignored Naruto and attempted to fire on Naruto again, not knowing it would be in vain. But before he could even try, bright beams of light once again severed a several of his many heads.

Shion jumped over to Naruto's position and said "Instead of just distracting him, wouldn't you rather help me take him down?"

Naruto laughed heartily and said "Hah, you really know how to spoil a guy. And here I thought 'ladies first' applied." His infectious joy even when fighting a demon caused Shion to begin to giggle a bit in return.

"Shion, let me see your hand," he said.

Shion blushed, thinking he was propositioning her. "O-ok," she said nervously, taking ahold of his right hand. Because of the shroud of chakra surrounding Naruto, she was afraid she would be hurt if she touched him. However, her priestess form seemed to blunt any such effects, so all she felt was the warmth of his hand.

Not noticing her misunderstanding, Naruto said, "Now begin focusing as much chakra as you can into my palm."

As she did so, Naruto began to concentrate his own chakra to join with hers to form a technique powerful enough to end the demon once and for all. Shion's purple chakra merged with Naruto's now red chakra in the shape of a spiralling sphere, which then began to grow at a rapid rate until it was even larger than the 2 of them.

Shion was mesmerized by the beautiful jutsu; it almost seemed like a metaphor for the 2 of them getting together. "Wh-what is this jutsu?" she asked in awe.

Naruto smiled. "It was my father's technique, the Rasengan. Now let's blow this guy to kingdom come!"

"Yes, let's!" she said in agreement.

The 2 shouted as the ran at Moryo. The demon tried to stop them by having all it's heads fire at them. However, the Nine-Tails chakra surrounding Naruto expanded in front of them to deflect the attacks with ease.

"Let's end this!" they shouted in unison.

 _Naruto and Shion's Super Chakra Rasengan!_

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto realized this was a terrible jutsu name. Nonetheless, when they slammed the colorful orb into Moryo's amorphous core where the previous seal had been, the technique detonated and produced a massive explosion. Luckily, Naruto's speed with the Nine-Tails chakra was sufficient to get them away before they were caught up in their own attack.

As they raced toward the exit, Naruto sent a pair of chakra arms to grab Neji and Sakura along with them. Just as they escaped the sealing chamber, the ground began to shake with a titanic earthquake.

After pulling away several kilometers, Naruto turned around and dropped the 3 people he was holding and saw the cause of the quaking.

"Aw hell, we made the damn volcano erupt," Naruto deadpanned. "Do we still get paid?" he asked seriously, causing Shion to fall down in shock at his random question.

Noticing a number of presences coming up behind them, Naruto turned to see Kakashi and a number of Leaf and Sand shinobi walk into the clearing he had brought his friends to.

Kakashi shook his head and said "This is ridiculous Naruto. The mission was to seal the demon away again, not blow up the volcano on it."

Naruto brought his hands together and said "I swear it wasn't my fault this time, Kakashi-sensei. The sealing didn't quite work so had to fight it instead."

"Hm," Kakashi said, "I'm still going to blame you for this in my report. Let's hope the Daimyo, Chichiatsu, wasn't fond of that mountain."

Naruto ducked his head, while Sakura laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Shion, who had been working up the courage to ask him, tapped the depressed Naruto on the shoulder and said, "Naruto, can I ask you something?"

Naruto stood and nodded for her to proceed.

"Well, you see, um, the powers of the high priestess in my country is an inherited power. It's not something that can be taught," she began nervously.

Naruto said "Ok, what's that got to do with me?"

"I was wondering, would you like to help me pass down this power to the next generation?" she asked quickly, given how forward she was being. She didn't care if the elders of her nation would object given Naruto's Jinchuriki status. She wanted to see if something special could blossom between them.

….

Everyone in the clearing was gawking at the priestess. Kakashi had to resist the urge to push Naruto into her arms. The situation seemed like something straight out of Jiraiya's novels. The hero saves the priestess and they settle down and… "hehehe", Kakashi muttered pervertedly.

Sakura's mind had to reboot before she could have the proper reaction.

' _ **That damn tramp, she can't just take Naruto away like that! She barely even knows him! I've known him for years!'**_ shouted inner Sakura. She wasn't quite sure why she was having this reaction, it wasn't like she and Naruto were dating.

Before Sakura could give Shion a piece of her mind, Naruto began to freak out a little.

"W-w-what?! I-I'm not ready to have a kid! Are you crazy?!" he said as sweat began to pour down his face, as he turned his head to look at his fuming pink-haired teammate nervously. He had never been on the receiving end of this sort of thing before. "Um, well, it was nice meeting you Shion. I'm sure you'll find someone great to settle down with someday. Goodbye!"

As Naruto raced off in the direction of Konoha at speeds that would make Gai proud, Shion sighed in amusement. "All the good men seem to get snatched up quickly," she said with a smile on her face.

Shion then turned to Sakura and said "Take good care of him, otherwise someone else will jump at the opportunity."

Sakura began to blush furiously, making Shion laugh brightly at the girl's embarrassment.

Sakura tried to argue with the high priestess that she and Naruto weren't dating. Shion wasn't hearing it; it was obvious after the few days they spent together that Naruto was head-over-heels. It seemed like a matter of time.

Kakashi was off to the side muttering about how ungrateful the young were, not even taking up someone on such a golden opportunity.

"Jiraiya-sama, you have failed to teach Naruto the ways of a true man," he said with a single tear falling down his face.

* * *

 **(1)** : That is the _Amatsu Norito_ (translated as something like "Heavenly Prayer") purification prayer in Shintoism. I also had Shion use some of the ritual movements involved in the norito. The chant can be somewhat translated as follows:

 _Prayer of Heaven_

 _In the highest planes of heaven_

 _Primeval Kamurogi and Kamuromi live._

 _And in accord with them, Izanagi,_

 _In a grove of pine at Tsukushi,_

 _Bathed at a river's clear mouth._

 _As he bathed purifying spirits were born._

 _Of them we ask that all baseness,_

 _Fault, and filth be washed away._

 _Humbly, we plead they be dispelled_

 _And we made pure._

 _Please, divine spirits,_

 _Legions of heaven and earth,_

 _Answer our plea._

 _And just as the dappled horses of heaven_

 _Perk their ears at the slightest rustle,_

 _Hear our meek prayer._

* * *

 **Favorite, Follow, Review!**

I'm not too sure about this chapter, as usual. There was a lot of talking and I wonder if it will be hard for the reader to follow everything that's going on, as I feel I rushed things again (hopefully the typos are a a minimum). However, I needed to get through the plot I setup before I could move on to other things. The next couple of chapters will be downtime between when Hiruko shows up.

I also decided to introduce a new concept into the series by having Lee mention it, although it won't be delved into just yet. However, it's not that hard to figure out what that power will be like, hehe.

One of the guests complained that Sakura is getting all of Naruto's techniques while Naruto is getting none of hers. And that's just silly. The only technique she really got from Naruto so far is Rasengan. Lots of people know the Shadow Clone technique in Konoha (including her sensei), so I don't think that really counts. And think about it, none of Sakura's specialties are compatible with Naruto's skill set and aptitudes. Medical ninjutsu and Genjutsu require very good chakra control, which Naruto lacks. Medical ninjutsu in particular also requires intimate knowledge of the human body, which Naruto doesn't have.


	9. Chapter 9: Guilt & Acceptance

**(2 Days After Shion Mission)**

Naruto and Sakura finally found themselves making some serious headway in their elemental ninjutsu training. The day prior, Naruto had finally managed to sustain his new jutsu. The resulting technique was incredible; a huge, white shuriken of Wind-natured chakra surrounding the yellow sphere of the Rasengan. This new _Rasenshuriken_ was extremely powerful, creating an enormous explosion at the training ground that even the sound suppressing seals had a hard time dampening for those outside. However, after Naruto's hand began hurting after he tested out its power once, the drawbacks of the technique were discovered during analysis of his cells, causing Tsunade to declare it a Kinjutsu until Naruto found a way to stop it from hurting himself in the process. A technique which could remove the user's ability to mold their chakra was just unusable.

Sakura on the other hand had improved her usage of the normal Rasengan, having been deemed by Kakashi to be usable in combat now that she could quickly form it one-handed. She had no interest in trying to add an elemental nature to the technique for various reasons, but especially because of how long it took to even get the technique to sustain for more than a few seconds. Yamato meanwhile had also determined that she was now accurate enough with _Tearing Torrent_ for she and Naruto to begin practicing Collaboration Ninjutsu together with their Wind and Water affinities.

When using the single element a person has an affinity for, they could maximize the power if their attack to a level those not possessing an affinity to the element couldn't match. And when done with compatible elements in a combined attack, the results would be devastating and almost unblockable.

Today, however, Naruto and Sakura were using their Shadow Clones to practice a few things together. Rather than use the Multi Shadow Clone technique to exponentially increase the acquired experience, they decided to take things easier for a little while. Although they didn't have to do so when summoning a smaller number of clones, Naruto and Sakura passed chakra between each other. Before they knew it, it had become something of a pre-training ritual for them, and it felt strange not to do it. And not that they would yet admit it to each other, but the feel of the other's chakra entering their chakra network had become comforting in a way that was hard to explain, a bit like the warm hug of a parent. Initially, it had only been Naruto sending chakra to Sakura, but she too began sending chakra to him. She knew his monstrous reserves made it unnecessary, but something about it just felt right to do.

After each making a dozen clones, Naruto said confidently "You ready, Sakura?"

"You're on, Naruto," she said equally sure of herself.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors, shoot!" they said in unison, Naruto casting paper and Sakura casting scissors.

"Drat!" Naruto said in faux anger.

"Naruto, are you letting me win these?" she asked, already knowing his response.

"Of course not! You're just veeeery luck, hehe."

Sakura rolled her eyes at the transparent game Naruto was playing. "Alright then, we'll practice Taijutsu first, and then maybe we should do some meditation for awhile."

Naruto nodded in agreement. Although he would have preferred working on their combination attacks, he had no problem mixing it up with martial arts. Well, so long as Sakura wasn't using Tsunade's chakra-enhanced strength technique…

Their respective clones nodded to their originals and paired up, with each Naruto and Sakura going elsewhere on the training grounds to practice what Sakura picked.

However, one of Naruto's clones tapped the Sakura clone on the shoulder.

"Psst, Sakura," he said.

"Come on Naruto, you heard them. We need to get a move on," she said.

Naruto snickered and said "Let's ditch this and go grab some ramen from Ichiraku's. They're all practicing enough as it is, I'm sooo hungry."

Normally clones (especially Sakura's) wouldn't consider disobeying what their original selves wanted them to do (they were the same people after all!). However, since she was a shadow clone and would return to her original eventually, she decided to have a bit of fun.

"Ok Naruto. I'd like that," she said smiling.

Although the clone Naruto knew it wasn't a date (they'd eaten there together many times), he still couldn't resist pumping his fist at getting a 'yes' out of her.

"Since I don't have any real money, I'll have Teuchi put it on my tab. Hopefully our originals won't remember this very well if the memories are lost in the shuffle when all of us are dispelled," the Naruto clone said mischievously as the two surreptitiously snuck out of the training grounds before they were spotted.

* * *

 **(A Few Days Later, Suna)**

'Come on, come on…' thought the white-haired man as he observed his target of the past half-hour. 'Daddy needs some inspiration, hehehe~'

And as the higher powers would have it, after having listened to the tanned, dark-haired beauty air her sexual frustrations regarding her boyfriend to her female friend, Jiraiya was blessed with the sight of her delightful naked form as she stood to leave the hot spring. It was times like this that made the toad sage not question the existence of a hot spring in a desert.

As Jiraiya finished writing down some notes on plot points and character descriptions of the adult variety, he received the sign from a longtime source of information. A paper airplane had hit him from behind, but its thrower was nowhere to be seen. Upon opening it, Jiraiya saw a simple message:

 _'We need to meet face-to-face'_ , it read.

"Hm," Jiraiya muttered, "this isn't like them. They've never made a move to meet up physically before…"

Just as Jiraiya was starting to wonder how he would find his mystery informant, the ink on the paper sheet began to spread apart. As the ink changed shape upon the page, it began morphing into a map of some city. Before the changes petered out, an "X" popped up on one of the outlines representing a building in the city in question.

"So they're here in Sand then. And the location is…" he stared at the map for a moment as he recalled the area of Suna that the "X" was at. "Ah that rowdy bar Hakoto runs."

As Konoha's premiere spy, Jiraiya wasn't one to take unnecessary risks on the job if avoiding it was possible. However, the source he was meeting had provided invaluable information in the past. His awareness of Akatsuki's existence and about their intention to target Naruto were obtained from this person. If they needed to meet up to pass along something new, Jiraiya couldn't help but feel the information was dire in some way.

An hour later, Jiraiya arrived at the bar in question, _Cliff Swallows_ , closer to the entrance of Suna than the hot springs had been.

"They really need to change the name of this joint," Jiraiya said with a smirk. After making the cross seal, Jiraiya's copy entered the dingy bar and began to scope out who his informant could possibly be while the original stayed hidden outside.

The Clone scanned the small place, taking note of the number of people who had flocked to the bar now that evening was rolling in to squelch the unbearable heat of the summer day with the promise of a cooler night.

Ignoring the increasingly drunken and increasingly louder men at the bar counter and those grouped around the several pool tables, Jiraiya spotted a woman off to the side of the room seated at a table alone. Although her face was covered by the hood of her dark, unremarkable outfit, Jiraiya's practiced eyes, having gazed up thousands of delightful women, could tell she was quite the looker underneath it all.

Before he screwed things up by hitting on her excessively, Jiraiya's Clone approached his apparent source of information with the appropriate seriousness. One might expect a hidden face to ring some alarm bells for a spy, but in a shinobi village hiding one's face was not uncommon. In Konoha for instance, the Aburame clan nearly always have their entire face obscured.

After taking a seat, Jiraiya said "I never did get to thank you for the information on the group's goals a few years back. On behalf of my student, I offer my gratitude."

His vague words were intended as a small test, naturally. As they gave nothing specific away, if the woman wasn't his source or else wasn't trustworthy, he hadn't given away crucial information that could endanger his homeland.

Thankfully however, the woman nodded her hidden face and said "It's appreciated, Jiraiya-se...sama." Jiraiya caught the slip, but he merely took it to mean she wasn't the outgoing type and stuttered when meeting well-known figures.

Getting things on track to minimize being overheard despite the loud environment they were in, Jiraiya said "On to business. What was so important that we needed to meet like this? I was fine with the anonymity."

"It concerns the same group. I haven't been entirely forthcoming about what I know about them," she said sadly.

Jiraiya didn't respond immediately, as he wondered what could have changed if she was deciding to come clean with whatever else she knew.

"Did something happen to bring this on?" Jiraiya asked.

The hooded figure nodded. "The Two-Tailed Jinchūriki was captured a few days ago."

"Shit," Jiraiya said angrily. "This is getting out of hand."

Given their unrivalled firepower, the Hidden Villages kept Tailed Beasts as their weapons of mass destruction. Iwa was in a veritable state of panic due to the abduction of their 2 Jinchūriki. After the first had been captured, they attempted to hide away their second. But despite their best efforts, Akatsuki managed to track down their other Jinchūriki. Rumor had it that Kisame was responsible for capturing Iwa's second Jinchūriki and slaughter the 500 shinobi guarding him.

And now with one of Kumo's prized Jinchūriki captured, tensions between the major nations would deteriorate ever more quickly. The Fourth Raikage was famously impulsive and quick to anger, which could hasten the inevitable conflict. Even Suna was on edge; they didn't lose their Tailed Beast but according to Gaara most of Shukaku's chakra had been absorbed, which couldn't be good regardless.

"Indeed. Given this, I need to come clean… Jiraiya-sensei," she said as she removed her hood.

The confused look on Jiraiya's face gave way to a stunned open mouth expression as he stared at the blue-haired beauty before him.

"K-Konan…" he said in a nearly inaudible whisper, feeling for all the world as if he were staring at the living dead.

"Hello sensei, it's been a long time. There's much for us to speak about."

* * *

 **(Konoha, Training Field 11, Next Morning, July 10th)**

"Hiiii-ya!" Naruto yelled as he finished up his last set of _kata_ for his taijutsu training. Despite it being only 10:30 a.m., Naruto had gotten up at an uncharacteristically early 5 a.m. so that he could get through a good workout and martial arts practice before the day got started. He suspected that if he didn't get it out of the way ASAP, he wouldn't be in the proper state later in the day and he'd lose a day of training.

As he thought about what the current day was, he had to fight off the negative feelings welling up in him.

"I can't lose it this early," he said after sighing.

After jogging back to his apartment for a quick shower, Naruto changed into a more casual black t-shirt bearing the Uzumaki crest on its back and into a pair of comfortable jeans.

After leaving his place, Naruto walked through the village distractedly. All the way to his destination, he found himself in his own little world, plagued by thoughts he knew were unhealthy but which he couldn't help but feel.

Seeing the shop he was aiming for, Naruto shook his head to clear the malaise before walking in.

"Welcome to Yamanaka's Flower Shop!" called out a familiar voice from behind the store counter.

"Hey Ino, how's it going?" Naruto replied with a smile.

"Oh it's just you Naruto. Done bugging Sakura for dates? I'm available if you must know~" Ino said and gave a playful wink.

Naruto blushed slightly but shook his head. "Eh, no thanks. Besides, I haven't asked Sakura for a date since I came back you know."

Ino sighed happily, having expected the rejection. "It was worth a shot. So why are you here then? Picking up some flowers for a special lady?" she said jokingly.

Naruto grimaced briefly but change expressions before Ino noticed. "Yea, you could say that. I just came to pick up a bouquet of roses, if you don't mind," he said in a tone he forced to be even. The red flowers seemed appropriate given who they were for.

Ino seemed surprised at the response she got.

 _'I didn't expect him to try and date anyone but Forehead! Has he moved on? No way, those two are always hanging out these days…'_

As she rang up Naruto's purchase and received the 200 ryō they cost, Ino wondered how Sakura would take the news once she got off her short hospital shift for the day in a few hours.

Meanwhile in the Hokage Tower, Tsunade was busily working through the usual mountain of paperwork. However as usual, she decided to use the Shadow Clone Technique to ease the relative burden of doing all this work by herself.

"I swear if I didn't have this jutsu I'd have quit this job in a week," said the original Tsunade after she finished her own stack of forms. "This work is gonna shorten my lifespan more than Creation Rebirth…"

Her doppelgangers nodded in agreement as the original stood up to stretch. Tsunade got the feeling she was forgetting something important about today, but she couldn't recall what it was. She walked over to the calendar she kept pinned to the wall behind her desk to see if she left a note for something important.

"Hm, July 10th. I don't have any meetings or some other annoying task setup for today," she said in confusion. Yet her gut was telling her it was something obvious and that she couldn't miss it.

And then it hit her. "Oh dammit," she said as she ran out of the room in a hurry, ignoring the calls of her other protégé.

* * *

As half-passed 11 rolled by, Sakura walked out of Konoha General Hospital working the kinks out of her joints and stretched. Having started work at 4 a.m. that morning, Sakura was glad she had a shorter shift for a few more weeks while she and Naruto trained for future Akatsuki encounters.

Making her way over to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to go out to eat lunch with Ino as usual, Sakura was surprised when her presence caused Ino to clam up a bit.

"You OK there, Ino?" Sakura asked in concern.

Ino waved her hands back and forth, saying "Of course of course, nothing happened, er, uh, nothing is the matter!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Oh now I know something is up. Spill it girl," she commanded.

Ino gulped, thinking she was damned either way. If she told her, Sakura might lose her head, but if she kept it from her that would only let her temper build until set found out some other way.

"OK OK, just don't shoot the messenger, you hear me?" she said nervously.

Sakura nodded, although she was crossing her fingers behind her back.

Ino took a deep, calming breath. And then she blurted out "Naruto got a hot date!"

Sakura's heart skipped a beat at those words, hoping she had misheard them. They seemed impossible, she must have misheard Ino...

Ino waited as Sakura's mind caught up to what she heard, and her patience was rewarded.

"He WHAT? W-with who?!" Sakura asked in a hurt tone of voice.

It wasn't that Sakura thought she could call dibs on Naruto or something. She just thought she knew her friend well and that they could tell each other anything. She definitely wasn't expecting this.

"Well," Ino said while tapping her chin, "I didn't actually see her."

Sakura felt relieved for a moment until Ino continued. "But he came in around 11 and picked up a bouquet of roses for someone. I asked if they were for a special lady friend and he said they were!" she said.

"I-I see," Sakura said in a defeated sort of voice. "I'll catch you later Ino!" she said before quickly vacating the store to head for a training ground to blow off some anger.

Ino watched her friend leave and said sadly, "Don't worry, I doubt some hussy can distract him from you for long."

* * *

After demolishing a decent chunk of the 11th training ground with her superhuman strength for an hour, Sakura walked back towards Konoha proper. She was still a bit miffed.

She stopped by Naruto's apartment, Ichiraku's and even the Hokage Tower. She couldn't find Naruto anywhere, and it was starting to get to her.

She didn't know quite why the prospect of Naruto dating bugged her so much. It wasn't like the 2 of them were an item. Yea, she had no reason to be taking it this way.

Sakura couldn't help but wonder who it was. She knew it wasn't Ino. Maybe Ten-Ten? A civilian? Hinata?

Sakura flinched as she recalled that Hinata had had a crush on Naruto for awhile. Over the years she had managed to greatly improve on her general shyness. But her continued inability to function properly around Naruto told her the crush was as strong as ever…

Suddenly Shion's words from the week prior sprang into her mind.

 _"Take good care of him, otherwise someone else will jump at the opportunity"_ the priestess had said with a knowing smile.

Suddenly she heard a crunching sound that surprised her. Looking at what her right hand was gripping, she noticed she crumpled a street sign in her grip by accident as she leaned against it.

"Either that street sign had it coming or I'd say a certain blonde acquaintance of ours annoyed you somehow," spoke a dull voice from her right.

Looking over, Sakura saw Kakashi, surprisingly without his adult reading material, eyeing her with a look of concern.

"Oh, hi Kakashi-sensei," she said somewhat deflatedly. "Naruto didn't something wrong, not really," she said in an unconvincing tone of voice.

The two of the began to walk aimlessly through Konoha for a minute before Kakashi broke the silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he said delicately, knowing his two students had a shift in recent weeks, even if the 2 of them hadn't realized it yet.

Sakura sighed and said "I'm being silly. It's just, it seems like Naruto got a date for later and he didn't bother to tell me… Uhg, I must sound so overbearing."

Kakashi snorted and said "A bit. Is the issue that Naruto is dating or who he's dating?"

"I don't actually know who it is, I just know he admitted to Ino that the roses he bought were for a girl."

"Hmm," Kakashi said. Remaining silent for a few moments, Kakashi asked "What's the date again?"

Sakura looked at him, thinking he was trying to change the subject to let her save face. "July 10th."

Kakashi stopped walking, surprising Sakura.

"What's the matter sensei, miss an appointment or meeting again?" she said teasingly. However, she stopped upon seeing the sad expression on her teacher's face. "W-what's wrong?"

"Sakura, Naruto didn't get those flowers for a date," he said in a melancholic tone.

Sakura blinked at the return to the topic. "Huh? How do you know?"

Kakashi shook his head and replied "It's a personal matter, I can't say. Just… just hold off for a little while, trust me. If you give him some space, I'm sure he'd explain it to you of all people, but it's not a pleasant topic for him."

Sakura had a doubting expression but eventually said, "OK sensei, I'll wait it out." Inside her head, Sakura was relieved and hoped dearly that her sensei was right about this.

"If you'll excuse me Sakura, I'm needed elsewhere," Kakashi said tersely before disappearing at high speed. Sakura had the sneaking suspicion he was going to Naruto, whatever he was doing. She was tempted to follow, but kept her promise to give Naruto the chance to explain it at his own pace.

* * *

 **(Konoha Cemetery)**

 _'Here Lies Kushina Uzumaki. A loving mother, wife and friend. May her will of fire pass on to the next generation.'_ read the inscription on her gray tombstone.

Naruto placed down the brilliantly red roses he purchased in front of his mother's resting place, and got down on his knees in front of it. He then pulled out a photo of Kushina that Jiraiya had given him during their trip when he revealed to Naruto who his parents were.

"Happy birthday, Mom," he said quietly as a small smile adorned his face. As he had propped the photo up against the grave, he could almost imagining that his mother was still here to hear him. She had been beautiful woman, and from the way her smile seemed to radiate joy even in a photo, Naruto was sure she had been a lively and fun person to be around.

Naruto took a deep breath to stem the tears that would likely show up soon. "I'm sorry I never came to celebrate before, I didn't even know who you were," he said sadly.

Naruto began thinking about what Jiraiya had told him about his mother, and before he knew it the tears came pouring out.

"I just can't help but wonder what it would have been like to meet you, to know you, to be raised by you," he said through the tears. "Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sama speak about you as being such an amazing person that I can't help but be jealous. They got to know how great and brave and kind you were... and the closest I can get are a few photos…"

The ill feelings Naruto had before began to resurge and Naruto didn't stop them from boiling out this time.

"I can't stop feeling guilty mom, I just can't. Jiraiya-sensei said that a girl Jinchūriki's seal is weak during childbirth… I just can't stomach the fact that you brought me into this world and my life took you out of it…"

At this point, the sniffles began. Naruto was sure he looked shameful, acting like this in public, but he just couldn't muster the pride to care about it at the moment.

"Sometimes I wonder how your life would have been, how everyone who died that day would have lived, if I just hadn't been born," he said in a dead tone of voice.

Due to his emotional display, Naruto didn't notice the 2 figures approaching him. 1 stood back to give some space for the other.

"Naruto," Tsunade said as she placed her a hand on his shoulder. "You can't do this to yourself."

Naruto turned to Tsunade to look at her. She wasn't surprised to see him in his current state. Even as much as he had matured, Naruto was the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. He could only bottle it up so much before it broke free like water from a dam.

Tsunade sat down beside her distant cousin and said "Take it from someone who spent decades wallowing in her own misery and failures, you won't find closure like this."

Naruto knew she was right, but no one ever said the heart was a reasonable thing.

"Besides," Tsunade said, "I know for a fact that the world is better of with you in it. You saved me, remember?"

Naruto's eyes widened a bit, but still found himself unable to respond coherently.

"You pulled me out of the hell I had turned my life into. I was just a drunk who was mountain deep in debt, and yet you put your life on the line to save mine. If you hadn't been born, we would never have met and I would have died a meaningless death."

Tsunade pulled Naruto's head down onto her shoulder and continued, "So I thank the gods everyday for getting to meet an amazing young man like you. I hope you know that I love you so, so much Naruto. We're family, remember?"

Naruto gripped her green overcoat and began to sob into her shoulder, a service Tsunade was more than willing to provide. She still felt awful for not having raised him after Kushina and Minato died, so she swore she'd be there for him however she could from now on.

"Naruto", said the other voice. "I know what it's like to feel responsible for losing people you care about. It eats away at you if you let the guilt overwhelm you," Kakashi said. "When my best friend sacrificed himself for me, and I lost the woman I loved, your mother and Gai helped me find myself again."

Kakashi took up the open space on Naruto's right side and placed a hand on his other shoulder. He noticed the photo of Kushina laying against her gravestone and was briefly taken back to a time when Kushina was practically a stand-in mother for him.

"You should have seen Kushina when she was pregnant with you. She was always a… vibrant woman, but when she learned she was pregnant she looked so content, as if life could never get any better," Kakashi said, reminiscing about the old days.

"We don't know what happened that day Naruto, but what I do know is that your mother loved you with everything she had. Whenever she would talk about her plans for the future, she would talk so excitedly that Minato had to head her off before she began bouncing of the walls," Kakashi said before chuckling. "She thought she was the luckiest mother in the world to be having you."

Naruto took a steadying breath and removed his head from Tsunade's shoulder and looked at his old sensei.

Kakashi returned the glance and said "You are so much like her it's almost unreal. Fiercely loyal, determined enough to want to take on the world no matter the obstacle and a great deal of, er, stubbornness. If Kushina could see you now, she'd be so proud of the man you've become, Naruto. We are, so a mother can only rate you even higher, no?"

Naruto giggled a bit before he wiped his wet face off on his shirt. "Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei, thank you. I'm sorry you had to see me like this."

"We've been around awhile, Naruto. Everyone in this line of work goes through something like this at some point," Tsunade said, to which Kakashi nodded in agreement. "But the trick is to remember that the dead are gone and wouldn't want you going to pieces from guilt. Kushina loved you so much, she'd want you let go of her ghost so you can live."

As Naruto thought over everything Tsunade and Kakashi had said, he found himself calming down to normal, though he was sure his face still looked puffy and red-eyed.

After Naruto nodded in acceptance if the Hokage's words, Kakashi said "Ya know, you might want to tell Sakura about this, or as much of it you're comfortable telling."

Naruto said "Huh?" as he cooked his head sideways.

Kakashi smirked (though it was hard to tell due to his mask). "Ino told her you had a date with a beautiful woman today. Sakura, heh, didn't seem to take it too well."

Naruto gulped and cursed nosey blonde store workers for making things complicated. But then he caught the implication of what Kakashi was saying and his eyes widened.

"Wait, are you saying she was jealous I might be dating someone else?" he asked, not quite able to disguise the hope that entered his voice.

"Hm, well she did just about snap a street sign in half after demolishing one of the training fields. So yea, she didn't take it very well that you might be off the market," Kakashi said.

Tsunade admitted to herself that she wanted to see her student and Naruto get together. They seemed good for each other, and she never liked seeing Sakura pine after a traitor who nearly killed Naruto. Still, she didn't like the sound of Kakashi playing matchmaker for the two of them.

 _'That man is a pervert, who knows why he's being so upfront about this,'_ Tsunade thought suspiciously. Having been the teammate of the king of the perverts, she was prepared to do her duty if Kakashi was working that angle.

Naruto blushed a bit but nonetheless steeled his nerves. "Thanks again you two, I really needed this." He walked over to Tsunade and gave her a brief hug before he turned around and practically shouted, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got someone to meet up with!"

And with that, the Hokage and Jōnin watched the young man run off to take a chance on his pink-haired teammate.

Tsunade turned to face Kakashi and said, "You just couldn't resist speeding things along, could you?"

Kakashi shrugged and said, "Hey hey, you haven't seen them together as often as I have lately. They seem to go just about everywhere together nowadays. I've been hearing rumors that they're dating, even."

"But they're not, right?" she asked. She doubted Naruto could keep something like that contained.

Kakashi shook his head. "But that's what I mean, they eat out together almost everyday and are around each other whenever they're not working, so the rumor mill couldn't help but make the connection. I think I even see some of their clones sneak off together after training sometimes. Naruto's doing, no doubt."

Tsunade smiled at the developments before her. _'Good luck you two.'_

* * *

Despite Kakashi's words, Sakura still found herself wondering just who Naruto had bought those flowers for. She hadn't seen him around all day. She was tempted to go find him but she already agreed to wait for him.

"Is something the matter, Sakura-san?" said an approaching voice.

Hinata had seen Sakura nearby and noticed her concerned expression and wanted to make sure she was OK.

Sakura waved her off. "I'm OK Hinata, I was just worried about something. Kakashi-sensei told me I'm worrying over nothing, but I'm still a bit nervous about it."

Hinata nodded and asked "Have you seen Naruto-kun around anywhere? I feel like we've barely met since he returned with Jiraiya-sama." She seemed sad at that realization.

"Not today, no. We've been hanging out lately, but I have no idea what he's doing today." _'_ _Or who he's he's doing it with'_ she finished as a thought.

Speaking of the devil, Sakura heard her name called out from down the road she and Hinata were on.

"Sakura!" came the familiar yell of Naruto as he jogged down the road to reach her.

Upon getting to her, Sakura said "Oh hey Naruto. How has your day been?" She wasn't able to completely disguise the edge in her tone of voice, a fact both Naruto and Hinata noticed but didn't comment on.

Naruto "hm"ed for a moment before answering. "Well it got better anyway," he said simply. As she watched him, Sakura saw that his eyes seemed a little red, as if he had been crying for some reason.

"H-hi Naruto-kun," Hinata said breathlessly. Kurenai had been helping her to improve her self-esteem, but she was still learning how to deal with her attraction to Naruto.

Naruto hadn't noticed the Hyuga heiress initially. She seemed to have a way of not calling attention to her presence. He didn't know know what to make of the blush he saw either. It was often on her face whenever he saw her, so he eventually assumed it was just something she did.

"Hey there Hinata-san," Naruto said politely, although Hinata seemed a bit surprised to here him refer to her with an honorific . After greeting her, Naruto didn't know what else to say, so he scratched the back of his head a bit. The two of them hadn't interacted much before so it was a little awkward for him since neither of them knew each other very well.

Naruto mentally shook his head; he was getting distracted from why he had sought out Sakura in the first place. "Eh, Sakura could I ask you something?" he said, just managing to suppress jittery voice.

Sakura arched an eyebrow and said, "Um, sure? What's up?"

Naruto took a deep breath, before quickly asking, "WouldYouGoOnADateWithMe?", before his face went crimson and awaited the blow up.

Both Sakura and Hinata looked at him with confused expressions, clearly not having understood him. Naruto cursed his nerves for failing him at this most crucial moment.

Sakura put her hands on her hips and said, "Naruto if you're going to be silly, I've got places to be."

"W-wait wait, lemme try again," he stammered out.

The Kyuubi chose that moment to speak into his conscious mind. _'Just hurry up and say it kid. This is so pathetic you're going to make me barf.'_

After sending a mental "fuck you" to the demon, Naruto said slowly, "Sakura, would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?"

There, now it was out there. Naruto knew he was taking a chance since this sort of thing could ruin a friendship like theirs if it went south, something he wanted to avoid more than anything. But at the same time, he felt he had to take a chance at some point or else he wasn't being honest with what he felt in his heart. And if what Kakashi said was true, he had a fighting chance at this.

Sakura to her credit managed to avoid freaking out, but that didn't stop her own face from taking on a pink coloring at the unexpected request.

 _'D-did he just… No way, that means Kakashi-sensei was right… Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't fr-'_

Sakura coughed into her fist awkwardly, which caused Naruto to begin sweating bullets, thinking she was trying to let him down easy.

"O-ok, Naruto. I'd like that," she said simply.

Naruto quickly entered his seal, flipped off the Kyuubi, and returned to the real world before saying excitedly, "Awesome! I'll pick you up at 7 Sakura!"

Naruto's face took on the brightest grin either of the girls had ever seen on his face. Naruto then jumped away across the rooftops of Konoha laughing at his good fortune, so Sakura giggled a bit at his reaction.

Now that Naruto had left, Sakura turned to Hinata and said, "Sorry to leave so soon, but it looks like I have plans later tonight. I'll catch you later, Hinata-san."

As the Hokage's protege left, Hinata couldn't hide her reaction to the events any longer. Her head tipped down in sadness and she was barely able to hold back her tears at seeing the person she was in love with be completely oblivious to her, and worse, ask out another woman right in front of her.

 _'I can't let things end like this,'_ she thought. Hinata knew it wasn't like Sakura and Naruto had committed to each other in a way that pushed her out of the game completely. But seemingly everyone besides Sakura knew that Naruto had had a crush on the girl for ages. And worse, Hinata had seen a change in the way Naruto looked at Sakura a few years back, as she had often watched Naruto from afar, longing to reach out to him but to hindered by her shyness to try.

Whereas during their Academy days Naruto had lusted after Sakura and boldly declared his affections for her, sometime around the Chunin Exam finals something seemed different to her. He still acted affectionately with her, but there was an ever present upturning of the corners of his mouth when he looked at her, the smallest of smiles to match the warm gazes he sent her way. As if something had become more secure for him, and he no longer felt he had to compensate for it by announcing it boisterously.

Hinata calmed herself down and thought it through. ' _Unrequited love exists, it happens all the time. There's no way I can give up without giving everything I have to try and be with him,'_ she thought confidently.

Recalling that her sensei Kurenai had quietly engaged Asuma recently, she figured there was no one better to go to for relationship advice. Hinata liked Sakura well enough, but there was no way she was giving up Naruto to someone who had dismissed him for all those years instead of being there for him.

* * *

A small, white-haired, childlike woman was releasing a blue, viscous fluid from her arms to completely encase her target shinobi. Once the strange fluid had done so, pulled the fluid (shinobi and all) back into her body. After the integration process was complete, 2 diamond partially overlapping diamonds appeared on his hands, signifying the acquisition of this much coveted Kekkei Genkai.

"Ah, a particularly useful ability. With you down, taking Chūkichi and Kakashi will be all the easier to accomplish," Hiruko said to herself. Once she had properly obtained each of the Kekkei Genkai she sought using the Chimera Technique she developed, her power would become unparalleled. Oh sure, failing to get Pakura was a wrinkle in her plan, but taking another of Kumo's shinobi while out on a mission allowed her to get the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai as a substitute.

As she quickly fled from the area in the Land of Grass she was in in case any patrols picked up her use of chakra, Hiruko didn't notice that she had been watched in her devouring.

A white-haired youth appeared from the ground, having used the aptly named _Hiding in Rock Technique_.

"It seems Orochimaru-sama will not have to intervene with this. Yet." Smirking, Kabuto journeyed back to the Land of Rice Paddies to inform his master of this new information.

* * *

 **Edit:** Fixed Formatting that FF dropped for some reason.

 **(A/N)** : What'd you think? I felt it was about time there was some development in regards to Akatuski and the NaruSaku shipping. What did you all think about the Konan reveal? Things won't work out as easily for Akatuski as it did in canon (although, yes, Yugito is already near death at this point). Next chapter will include Naruto & Sakura's first date. What did you think about the Kushina stuff?

Wasn't it strange how it took until the 5 Kage believed 8 of the 9 Tailed Beasts were captured before they called for a summit? The Tailed Beasts are the equivalent of unstable, yet reusable nukes. The excuse in canon that Onoki gave, that the villages weren't going to help each other because they lost their Tailed Beast, made no sense. At that point, Iwa itself had already lost both Roshi and Han, meaning their village was greatly weakened. After several had been taken, some kind of task force should have been made, if not between all the villages, then between allies. Now, in my fic the summit is nowhere near happening. But then again, Akatuski isn't going to just waltz around nabbing Tailed Beasts without having a tough time of it.

I found myself enjoying writing this chapter more than some of the previous ones. I think the writing style better reflects how my first two chapters were written. Anyway, **Favorite, Follow and Review**!

Re Guest Reviews (just leave if you don't care for it, there's nothing else for me to say)

Dynasty: You're reading too much into what I said. The reviewer I mentioned made it seem like Sakura was just getting all of Naruto's techniques in previous chapters, when the only one that I would really count is Rasengan since Shadow Clones are somewhat well-known among higher-up Konoha shinobi.

Guest Reviewer Asking about Sakura: What's wrong with Sakura having 2 natures? (only Kakuzu has 2 affinities) That's not crazy to give her. Also, Sakura wasn't a genin in that chapter, she became a Chunin over the timeskip. And just because I didn't make Kakashi fight with Naruto doesn't mean I'm pandering to the pairing. I just felt Sakura had a closer attachment to Sasuke than Kakashi did, so she'd be chomping at the bit more to take out the guy who helped tempt Sasuke away from Konoha. And why wouldn't Sakura have heard of the chakra transfer technique? It's the most self-explanatory technique ever, it's right in the name. And why would Naruto tell her that his father is Minato Namikaze? Most people haven't heard of Rasengan, especially outside of Konoha. And yes, Naruto will ask people about the Ten-Tails at some point.

Anyway that's enough from me, later everyone~


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